We've seen Dynamic Towers, the planned condo skyscraper in Dubai where every floor rotates independently. But according to The Economist, this Jetsons-esque way of living could become the next big thing in luxury housing.
Companies all over the world, not only from Dubai, but also Nevada and Brazil, are beginning to develop their own way of creating both houses and towers that have the ability to rotate (generally 360 degrees/hour). Custom contractors are building homes on a one-off basis out in California, while Brazilian developer is wrapping up their Suite Vollard, where the 11 flats will sell for $550,000. They also have deals to develop in Canada, Japan, Portugal, the US and the UAE.
Apparently, the big issue in the past with building houses like these came down to plumbing. Now contractors and plumbers are working around those limitations with rubber hoses, rounded half pipes, or just leaving all that stuff in a stationary center column.
The custom houses built in California only use between 370 watts and 1 kilowatt of power for every hour the house was rotating. These houses also have an interesting way of delivering power: there's a metal brush on the that sweeps against a metal ring connected to a power supply inside the anchored base.
In any case, while the idea of rotating houses may not be entirely new, the prospect of them becoming somewhat commonplace is. [The Economist]