Few design competitions ever focus on truly traumatic life experiences, the kind of situations that force men, women and children into their primal survival tendencies. Luckily, in 2010 this gaping hole in architectural design was finally addressed. The 2010 Zombie Apocalypse Safe House Competition posed the task to designers to find solutions to the the very real threat of having to defend yourself against hoards of brain hungry zombies as the end of mankind grows near. Follow after the jump to read about this lighthearted design competition, the entries and their presentation boards.
The 2010 Zombie Apocalypse Safe House Competition, sponsored by Architects Southwest, provided entrants with several issues to address in their design:
Program Issues to Address: 1. How many people can you fit in your safe house? 2. How are you handling power, potable water, and waste? 3. How are you handling access to your safe house? 4. How many days do you plan to stay in your safe house, and how much food and water are you providing? 5. How will you escape in the event of a zombie intrusion? 6. How will you keep zombies out of your safe house?
The budget was unlimited.
WINNER: SS Huckleberry
ENTRANT: Mountain Getaway
This one was based on an individual that escapes from the zombie horde by balloon attached to his house seeing no way out from the zombie engulfed city. Of course, being attached to the house doesn’t allow for much steering, so the man drifts along until he decides to set himself down in a mountain crevice. Of course the landing causes the house to split up and he has to makes due with hand built ladders and walkways. But he dose have his living quarters with in the house and they are still functional. Time passes and the man realizes that the zombies have evolved and are beginning to scale the mountains to reach him. So while they are scuttling around the base of the mountain he begins tunneling and fortifying the mountain with safe havens and traps.
The mountain walls have spikes made form the trees that were once on top and in the mountain, save one (for prosperity sake), and a pit with spikes with a shaky bridge discourage uncoordinated zombies from making it into the living quarters that can only be entered through a small hidden passage. Of course should the zombies ever break the forts defenses the two means of escape are by the balloon, thereby taking the useful part of the house with him, or by boat, which scoots along out the mountain an down twisty rivers. Ok, there are some logistic problems, but it was more fun to draw it like this.
ENTRANT: 40 Day Z Pod
ENTRANT: Sears Roebuck 003-b
Some of you younger people might not know this but back many – many years ago you could order whole houses from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. Yes, whole house kits would be shipped to you’re site. In the spirit of that I thought that what if our survivalist couldn’t make it out of town. Well if he had the forethought to purchase one of this kits (with a 5 year warranty), when the apocalypse ensues and the derelict buildings with just their steel skeletons dot the landscape remain, you can put up your zombie fort, complete with all the amenities of home and completely impenetrable. Roof garden and solar cells on roof not shown.
