The Weeping Eye of the Futuro

On a meadow in front of the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the egg-shaped Futuro House by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen has stood like a landed UFO since 2017. This vision for modern architecture from 1968 didn’t catch on in the market, though today it would experience a renaissance as a Tiny House. At a time of political upheaval, before the oil crisis and the announcement of the “Limits to Growth“, the technical and architectural design concept was nevertheless visionary.

With its space-age round shape, influenced by contemporary science fiction, the actual successes of space travel, and the design of commercial aircraft, it stands in visual contrast to the clear lines and edges of the Pinakothek der Moderne or the Neo-Renaissance brick building of the Alte Pinakothek. The fibreglass-reinforced plastic construction with 16 symmetrically arranged oval windows is part of the Neue Sammlung Design Museum. The elements have now left their marks on the exterior, with dirt streaks lending a touch of sadness to the building and leaving room for imagination and association.