In Bangkok, a house as a sign of the times

Would you be willing to live behind a giant billboard if your house could pay for itself? At the 2011 Baanlaesaun Fair in Thailand, Bangkok based design firm ApostrophyS unveiled a residential prototype that combines the functions of outdoor media (i.e. signage) with housing to provide an actual return on real estate investment.

Billboard House is a solar powered urban house that doubles as advertising, and therefore income generating, space. The economic goal of the project is to spread the cost and share the benefits of one real estate unit among three users, an advertising client (who could negotiate a lower billboard rental cost); an owner/tenant (who would earn income from the advertiser's rent); and like all good capitalist exchanges, a broker who would coordinate the legalities and paperwork.

A simple, modular post and beam and metal strut system makes up the structure. ApostrophyS offers the Billboard House in a matrix of sizes, rooms, and billboard types (e.g. LED, tri-vision, flat). Behind the customizable billboard facade, a super slim three story volume sits on its own movable base, a trailer. The exterior skin of the residential area is made of patterned ironwork screens often used in Thai houses. Privacy increases by moving up through the house and the main stairway provides storage areas and a double height space for drama.

Billboard House presents an interesting solution to the problem of overcrowded cities with high rents. Instead of fighting the onslaught of advertising, the prototype surrenders to it while also letting its residents turn their backs to it.

The Billboard House won the 2011 house prototype design competition at the Baanlaesaun Fair.

Billboard House 2011 | ApostrophyS @Baan Lae Suan Fair 2011 from Jan Mantanakorn on Vimeo.

Images: courtesy of ApostrophyS

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com