Saturday 12 March 2011

Hise Rise Hab-Pods

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Why does the future have to be so utilitarian? These are called Golly Pods by a company called Tend. When I came across them on the net, what my mind's eye instantly  'saw' was a 15mm Sci Fi high rise living module. Now imagine that behind the greenery in the 'pod' aperture is a full plexi-glass frontage. The greenery could be a cultural throwback or a city corporation planning feature.


I'd expect buildings like these to appear on an AE Van Vogt book cover. Of course, they could be an alien habitation, advanced intelligence or primitive rock dwellers.

From hi-rise to lo-rise.......


This picture also caught my eye. These are actually pet 'pods' from Plushpod. What I see in the picture is a 'first foot' colony. I like the fact the design of the pods break away from simply being hexagonal.

Now, this Danish round house impresses me.....


Lot's of 15mm Sci Fi gaming potential and the one base model can spawn an apartment, office or industrial unit. Something that again, breaks away from the Gothic or Sci Fi portakabin buildings we are used to.

This modern design fish bowl offers opportunities for a mass produced but stylish Sci Fi building design.....


Reminds me of the Futuristic City at Matakishi's Tea House.

Finally,whilst a lot of 'modern' house designs leave me cold, I find this one "funky". Yes "funky" It reminds me of the golden age of Sci Fi movies such as Rollerball with James Caan. Don't get me wrong, I'm not wedded to classic post Norman farmhouse or Georgian townhouse architecture, it's simply that a lot of futuristic design seems to be high on concept, low on form and even lower on function.


This is not a hab for the masses. Rather it's a futuristic 'mansion' set in manicured grounds and aimed at a rich industrialist, political leader, gliterrati or drug lord. Just ripe for a classic Traveller roleplay skirmish adventure game. Take out the guards and auto-security defences, infiltrate the house..... in fact there's a tale of an attack on a long house in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that would transpose perfectly to this futuristic setting. And and possibly Beowulf for a modern age now I come to think of it....

Cheers
Mark
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PS Luckily I have pre-populated Dropship with a couple of draft posts which can be posted using the iphone whilst the issue with my PC is sorted.
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6 comments:

  1. Great finds! Those Golly pods are especially useful. With the plants in them it looks like ruins of an advanced city where nature is returning. Without the plants they look very easy to convert to buildings.

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  2. All that springs to mind when I see those Golly Pods is Roger Dean and Yes album covers.

    Very retro sci-fi.

    Great find, I want half a dozen....

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  3. All excellent concepts.
    I think a technologically advanced society would use green architecture for it's psychological, enviromental, spiritual and engineering benefits. So some lichen in the golly pods would not be out of place.

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  4. Very interesting post! I do like the 1 story utilitarian type of buildings available from GZG, CMG and Battle Works Studios but there is definitely a gap in the market for an aesthetically pleasing futuristic city scape in 15mm!

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  5. Funny, that Danish round house is actually an administration building at my university, I go there a few times a year.

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