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Woman to build house out of 747

B

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
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A California woman is going ahead with the construction of a house made of elements from a 747 Jumbo jet.

Francie Rehwald wanted her house to look "feminine", have curves and be eco-friendly. Her architect's answer was: "Let's use a 747!"

The wing of the Boeing jet will be used for the roof, its nose as a meditation temple while its trademark "bulge" will serve as a loft.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4926216.stm

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The conference room at work has a large table spanning the front made from two airplane wings and a nosepiece for the center. The coffee room table is a tailpiece 'wing' as well. I'll try and remember to take a picture.
 
hmmm... might get cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. metal is a good thermal conductor.
 
Savage Henry said:
But to be fair, this must be the first time it has been suggesteed that a 747 has been considered eco-friendly!
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The pull quote in the article blows my mind:

confused_architect said:
It seemed to make more sense to acquire an entire airplane and to use as many of the components as possible, like the Native American Indians used every part of the buffalo.
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Is this what we've come to? Nature as mechanization?

aloofman said:
That's feminine?
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Soon, sleek, gasoline guzzling, flight-capable women will be preferred.

robot_woman.jpg



Despite all of this, I do think the house will be pretty cool -- living in the detritus of what we've alredy consumed.
 
Hopefully she'll give Kevin a call, because this series has been pants so far, and that house looks 'splendid', :D
 
An aluminum (airplane wing) roof? that sound like it will be pretty loud if it rains...and she has a "meditation temple"? What the heck is a meditation temple? I would take the cockpit and make it into a flight sim. Now that would be a good use of an old 747. :)
 
leftbanke7 said:
Exactly. Getting woken up in the middle of the night by the house screaming "windsheer...windsheer" may be a bit tramatic.
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Not really, the lift of an airplane wing is provided due to a difference in pressure from the bottom to the top. If there isn't wind going under the wing, it won't "fly" off the house.

That design is the least house like design I've ever seen. Seriously, look at all that glass, it will need constant maintenance (cleaning), and glass is just a stupid building material for a house.

EDIT: I dig the waterfall pool, but talk about upkeep. Sheesh
 
jared_kipe said:
That design is the least house like design I've ever seen. Seriously, look at all that glass, it will need constant maintenance (cleaning)
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Not seen this then. ;)
 
jared_kipe said:
...Seriously, look at all that glass, it will need constant maintenance (cleaning) ...talk about upkeep.
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You know, given her family's reported business dealings, something tells me that it's not going to be her out with the Windex every weekend.

The Register said:
By the time Francie Rehwald — whose family owns one of California's biggest Merc dealerships...
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/20/jumbo_house_project/
 
Blue Velvet said:
Francie Rehwald wanted her house to look "feminine", have curves and be eco-friendly. Her architect's answer was: "Let's use a 747!"
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I love this. This is sort of like saying, "Hey, honey, let's have a wedding theme that the girls can really get into."

"You're absolutely right. How 'bout if we do a Star Trek themed wedding?"

"Please? I'll let you be Seven of Nine."

:D

Although, I do have to say, the idea of using an old plane to make a house is intriguing. Plus, all kinds of great flotation devices and air masks from the ceiling... the possibilities are endless. :)
 
There used to be an ad in ebay for a couple years advertising a house to be built by mounting a passenger jet fuselage on a spindle. The tailfin would be retained so the whole house could rotate like a wind vane. I thought it looked pretty cracked.
 
jared_kipe said:
Not really, the lift of an airplane wing is provided due to a difference in pressure from the bottom to the top. If there isn't wind going under the wing, it won't "fly" off the house.
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It seems to me that -- all else being equal -- the lift would be even greater because the air beneath the wing is basically motionless. The pressure difference between the top and bottom of an airplane wing is between two moving streams of air, but the house would have one moving stream over the top and still air underneath. But since the wind speed would be much lower than a 747 in flight, I'm not sure it would matter anyway.
 
mkrishnan said:
Although, I do have to say, the idea of using an old plane to make a house is intriguing. Plus, all kinds of great flotation devices and air masks from the ceiling... the possibilities are endless. :)
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And those puke baggies will come in handy during the opening parties.
 
can you imagine how much it would cost to replace the tires on her house?!

gives new meaning to 'mobile' home.

Good grief, can you imagine how much it would cost to paint that beast every so often? :eek: :eek:
 
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