Daily Dose: Nautilus House

As a kid, I remember walking along beaches picking up seashells, rinsing them in buckets and having to decide which ones were “special” enough to make the trip back home. Interior decorating stores have embraced clients’ childlike fascination with these portable shelters and made them trendy additions to mirrors, furniture and all manner of knick-knacks. It remains unusual, however, to use the shell as an inspiration for the architectural design of a residence. The 2006 home, designed by Javier Senosiain of Arquitectura Orgánica, makes extraordinary use of the nautilus shell’s natural form in its construction.

Nautilus House, Mexico City

Nautilus Interior, two views

It’s not just the outside design that’s meant to model the nautilus shell; the oddly shaped chambers and twisting interior walls lead the inhabitants through a space much like that of the actual shell itself. The primary construction material, ferrocement, is unique in its composition as well. It’s made up of cement, sand, water and wire or mesh; ferrocement is fire-proof, earthquake-safe and won’t rust. Beauty and brawn can work in harmony, after all.

Sources:
http://www.beautifullife.info/urban-design/living-in-a-shell-nautilus-house/
http://www.psfk.com/2009/06/nautilus-house.html