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AS OF 102913 THE FUTURO HOUSE PROJECT HAS ITS OWN DOMAIN AND ALL UPDATES ARE NOW FOUND ON THEFUTUROHOUSE.COM

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 UPDATED 092912 | ADDED 072812 | NIEDERNHAUSEN, GERMANY | RETURN TO THE MAIN FUTURO HOUSE ARTICLE | RETURN HOME

Herrenweg 27, 65527 Niedernhausen, Germany | 50°9'39.40"N 8°13'57.82"E

Featured Image Courtesy Of Achim Breiling | Date 072812

 
Google Maps | Satellite Imagery Date 123108

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany  
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Additional Images
 
Notes, History & Resources

The following images are also courtesy of Achim Breiling aka "futurohunter" and were taken 072812.

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany - Alt 1

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany - Alt 2

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany - Alt 3

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany - Alt 4

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany - Alt 5

Futuro, Niedernhausen, Germany - Alt 6

The only earlier image I know of of this Futuro is one on Panoramio by Akira from 072507.

You can also see this Futuro in this snippet from the film "Weltmarktfuehrer - Die Geschichte des Tan Siekmann" [This is an avi format file and how it will play depends on your browser settings - if it fails to play you can use "save target as" to download the file to your local machine and then play using whatever media player application you use].
 
Update 092912

In a 230812 article [German - English version by Google Translate here] by Susanne Stoppelbein for the Wiesbadener Kurier we find just a little more information on this Futuro. The article is not actually about the Futuro, it is about a lady by the name of Ilona Goreschian and her love of gardening. However the article does add a little to the information available on the Futuro.

The article reports that architect Jan Goreschian and his wife Ilona purchased the property at Herrenweg 27 "21 years ago"; since the article was written in 2012 that placed the purchase in 1991. The Futuro, described as being once a "hut", now serves Ilona as her garden shed. Of all the exciting plans for the Futuro in its heyday I doubt Matti Suuronen ever considered such a use. He might twitch a little at the fact that the article even mispells his name when reporting that the Futuro was designed by "Matti Suurosen".

My thanks to Achim Breiling for unearthing this article.


Original Information 072812

I found out today that Achim Breiling who has provided me with a great deal of information on several Futuro's goes by "futurohunter" on Flickr and that is certainly a very appropriate moniker. Following close on the heels of his tracking down the Matsalu Futuro in Estonia Achim is this time discovering another "new" Futuro a little closer to his home in Germany.

The photos to the right are all from Achim and were taken 072812 on a day trip where he was able to actually visit three [actually two and a half] Futuros, this one, the one in Taunusstein and the "half" Futuro in Frankfurt am Main.

The tale of Achim's detective work goes something like this:
  • Achim was sent a snippet of the film "Weltmarktfuehrer - Die Geschichte des Tan Siekmann" [In German - English by Google Translate here] by Len of FuturoHouse.com in which he had spotted a Futuro. There was not really anything to identify the location.
  • Achim started to research Tan Siekmann who made a great deal of money in the "tech" business with his company Biodata Systems GmbH [In German - English by Google Translate here] but ultimately went bankrupt. He initially bought his company in 1984 for a symbolic one Mark. Since then his company has been through various changes and he has faced bankruptcy at least twice [2001 and 2004] and maybe more. Like many a true entrepreneur he seems to rise, fall and then rise again from the ashes. Anyway during his research Achim found this article [In German - English by Google Translate here] which made reference to the appearance of a UFO in Siekmann's past [the word "Futuro" is never used].
  • The article about Siekmann indicated that when he was 15 his parents purchased "a strange prefabricated house designed by some finnish guy" and placed it in the garden of their home. The article is dated 2004 at which time Siekmann was 37 so that places the Futuro purchase in 1982.
  • The article on Siekmann did not indicate the actual location of the "UFO", only the general area - the Taunus region north of Frankfurt - and as stated earlier the film clip does not provide any indication as to location [though possibly the Siekmann family no longer owned the Futuro by that time since all of the film is taken from outside the fence]. So what to do now - well emails to the film director and Tan Siekmann himself were answered - the Futuro was located in village called Engenhahn, in an area called Wildpark. From there our friend Google Maps came to the rescue and Achim was able to pin the Futuro down to an address.

All I can say is - awesome work Achim!

Achim says the Futuro appears to be in the middle of nowhere, hidden in the woods and that it appears to be still in use, perhaps as some kind of garden shed. Looking on Google Maps the Futuro is actually about 80 - 100 feet south of a home and it appears to be on the land belonging to the home and so such a use is not unreasonable [though it would not be my chosen purpose for such a treasure].

The Futuro seems exhibit a couple of differences from the norm. It does not appear to have the lower windows that most European Futuros have [Compare to Taunusstein]. Though it is not possible to see all around the Futuro the lower windows are certainly not present on the segments opposite the door which is where they commonly are. In addition there is a set of lockable doors installed that allow the Futuro to be secured even when the steps are down. It is not possible to determine if this was a modification at the time of manufacture or something that was fitted by the owners at a later date. These doors are clearly visible in the photos.

At this time that is everything I know about this Futuro so please, if you have any information you could share it would be much appreciated.

One other interesting fact not specific to this Futuro came out of Achim's Futuro outing. Including this newly discovered Futuro there are actually three [or two and a half] Futuro's in a relatively small geographic area around Taunusstein in Germany. One is on the grounds of Expotechnik Holding GmbH & Co. KG in Taunusstein, the second [the half] was donated by Expotechnik to a youth center in Frankfurt am Main and the third is this one. There is no actual evidence for it but given that Expotechnik was involved in "exhibitions" and the fact that their website includes imagery of what appears to be Futuro's not fully assembled it is possible that Expotechnik was a manufacturer or distributer of Futuros [and that maybe there are more in the area waiting to be found! Like I say no evidence for that but it is interesting to hypothesize sometimes.

Sources & Reference:
Got new, updated or corrected information or an image I could use?

I am always looking for additional information, history, details, images, videos; just about anything Futuro I guess - if you would like to contribute please use the Futuro Contact Form at the bottom of the main article or email me.

As far as images go I am particularly interested in those that are either significantly better than the ones already on this page or show a different aspect or detail. If you own an image meeting one or both of those criteria I would love to be able to use it on this page but I will simply provide a link if that is your preference. Where permission is granted to use an image on the page appropriate attribution will be provided by means of a link to the original image, a link to a website of your choosing or both.