Michael Jantzen’s Interactive Segmented House of the Future

Michael Jantzen’s Interactive Segmented House of the Future reimagines domestic space as a living system—one that shifts, rotates, and adapts in real time. The concept revolves around a central core wrapped by five independent movable segments, each designed to respond to environmental conditions and user preferences.

These segments can rotate manually or automatically, allowing the house to orient itself toward or away from sunlight, wind, or rainfall. Through these movements, the structure can self-warm through solar exposure, cool naturally through cross-ventilation, collect rainwater, and continuously reshape its silhouette, making the architecture feel both responsive and alive.

Built primarily with lightweight steel, the proposal integrates photovoltaic cladding to generate power for the home’s systems. A glass floor suspended within a steel frame offers uninterrupted transparency, giving inhabitants a full 360-degree visual connection to the surrounding landscape. Airflow is enhanced through floor openings that draw in breezes captured by the adjustable wind scoops embedded in the outer segments.

Despite sharing the same geometric form, each movable module performs different functions depending on its position. Some contain 360-degree rotating windows for optimized light and views, while others direct wind or collect water. The segments can act independently or operate together, providing fine-tuned environmental control.

Inside, furnishings fold into semicircular cabinets hidden beneath the glass floor, rising only when needed to maintain a clean, open living space. The system is expandable, allowing additional modules to be added to increase size or adapt functionality.

Jantzen’s proposal suggests a future in which architecture becomes flexible, sensory, and interactive—a transformable environment that blurs the line between structure and organism.

Written by Otávio Santiago, a designer passionate about creating meaningful visual experiences through graphic, motion, and 3D design. Based between Berlin and Lisbon, he works across disciplines — from print and branding to digital and animation.