Futuro house

John Greenwood <john.greenwood [at] canberra__edu__au> writes

>Conservation of flying saucer
>"We come in pieces"
>
>The University of Canberra has been given a Futuro house which has
>been erected on campus. ...
>...
>... It has been bashed around a bit, has various
>holes and modifications and the original door has been altered. If
>any one has any experience in the conservation of a Futuro house,
>similar projects or even the conservation of flying saucers please
>let me know.

In 2010 we finished the full scale restoration of the Futuro House
Prototype, the first one produced, dating from 1968.  It is now in
the collection of the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam,
the Netherlands.

The two year conservation project included f.i. cleaning of the
surface, repair of broken edges and parts, strengthening of the
stairs in the entrance and also research into the original idea,
function, structure, upholstery etc.  It will be on exhibition from
May 2011 onwards in the Museum.

Key decision for the preservation strategy was to show the Prototype
from now on only indoors, and limit transport and showing on
different sites to a minimum, as every transport and dismantling
will again damage the work.

The Prototype (as all other Futuro houses) is produced as sandwich
shells from GRP--Glass Fibre Reinforced Polyester.  The polyester
shells wear off and develop cracks, risking water being able to
enter the sandwich construction.  This will result in delamination,
enable mould grow, and rain and frost to damage the material
further.

See also Tim Bechtold on Futuro no. 13 in Berlin, Germany: in the
article

    "Houston - We have a problem; when flying saucers become
    brittle",
    in Plastics.  Looking at the Future and learning from the Past
    (V&A, Archetype, London, 2008)

    <URL:http://popart.mnhn.fr/spip.php?article122>

On the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen website, under Art-Tube you can
find a short film of the building up of the Prototype in 2009:

    <URL:http://arttube.boijmans.nl/nl/video/futuro-nl/>

Depending on your university's decisions on use and whether or not
to allow access to the public; the wish for long term preservation
of the Futuro; and considering climate influence, location etc., you
can set up a conservation strategy.  We will be very happy to help
you with any information, hoping to keep another fantastic Futuro
House alive.

Please contact me for further details,

    Lydia Beerkens
    Senior conservator of Modern Art
    SRAL (Stichting Restauratie Atelier)
    Maastricht
    The Netherlands
    lydia.beerkens<-a t->planet< . >nl

Lydia Beerkens
Modern Art Conservation
+31 24 3662041
Mobile: +31 6 50606880
and SRAL -  Conservator of Modern Art
+31 43 3218444


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:51
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 12, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-24-51-006
                                  ***