Created by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen, the Futuro house was, for its time, an incredible leap forward in home design technology.  Not because of any special features the home contained, but because of what the homes were made of.  From the late 1960′s until the mid-1970′s, the Futuro was the ultimate in modern home design.

The Futuro was created for use in the harsh Finnish climate.  The round design and small size allowed the Futuro to serve as a portable skiing cabin.  You just hook it to a helicopter and fly it into position, settle it down and there you go.  It sat on four sturdy steel legs, had a drop-down entrance gangplank, and came with a variety of prefabricated insets to serve a variety of domestic needs, from kitchens to bedrooms.  The entire home was made up of roughly 16 pieces, and were surprisingly adaptable.  Made by plastics company Polykem, the unique saucer-shaped homes were made of polyester plastic and fiberglass.  This made them ultra-light and, when combined with built-in electric heating systems and integrated insulation, could heat the house from a chilly -20 to a comfortably warmth 60 in only half an hour.

The demise of the Futuro wasn’t because of its lack of popularity, but because of the oil crisis.  The reduction in crude supplies drove the price of plastic through the roof, and considering the Futuro is made mostly of plastic, that put an end to that little flight of fancy.  Of the 100 or so Futuros produced, some 60 of them survive to this day in one form or another, with a variety of enthusiasts working to preserve them today.