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Internet Observatory; "This structure can be thought of as kind of a symbolic temple to the computer age, and more specifically to the Internet and it's relationship to the people who interact with it" Images © Michael Jantzen unless noted

Michael Jantzen - Artist, Architect, Futurist Interview by Ernest Lilley 05/20/03 Michael Jantzen's: Website While browsing around I stumbled onto the art and architecture of Michael Jantzen. I've always like small living spaces, especially ones that stretch my mind but sit lightly on the ground. Jantzen, well known for his futurist works, humored me as I asked a few questions about his work.

TechRevu: I stumbled onto your home page after following a link from SPACE.COM about an inflatable house. At least I think it was inflatable (actually, it was unfoldable: Tech Today: Hide Away House).

I’ve always been turned on my interesting living spaces, especially small ones and your spaces really capture one’s imagination. Or maybe, I should say they really release it.

How did you originally get turned on by architecture?

Jantzen: I was inspired by many people working in and out of this field. One of my big influences was Bucky Fuller, he like myself was always trying to reinvent everything.

What scale do you like to work on? City structures like Paolo Soleri? Places for families or just for one person?

I prefer working on a smaller scale, I really like the idea of reinventing the house. I like small intimate spaces and places, the home, the work place, personal products, furniture, etc.

Prayer Kiosk:  "Write a prayer to your chosen God on the computer screen and press, SEND."

Your work is as much sculpture as it is housing, and of course, some pieces like “Prayer Kiosk” and “Time Machine” are pure sculpture. How concerned are you with the functionality of living space? Is is there to house the body or the mind?

My background is in the arts, I was trained as an artist I have no formal training as an architect. I am concerned with the idea of designing spaces for the body and the mind, and also maybe the soul.

Art is driven by material science, if only to the degree that what you create is constrained by what is possible. How have materials changed over the your working life?

The Home-Scape™ system can be designed to be as energy self-sufficient as is needed. One of the most important design aspects of the system is the pleasing organic esthetic, which can be assembled and or disassembled in many different ways.

Not a lot has changed for me in the material world, I really don't have access to exotic materials like some of the composites etc. The main thing that has changed for me is the use in my conceptual work, of information technology.

How do you create pieces? Do they only exist in virtual reality, or are they actually standing somewhere?

Some of my work is built and much of it exists in the form of models, and or in the form computer renderings.

Can you tell us something of the design process? Do you start with a napkin and then jump to a computer model?

I make very rough drawings, and then begin to build detailed models from plastic materials.

M-House: Relocatable M-vironments are made of a wide variety of manipulatable components that can be connected in many different ways to a matrix of modular support frames. The frames can be assembled and disassembled in different ways to accommodate a wide range of changing needs. photograph © Kenneth Johansson

What sort of software and hardware do you use?

Plastic for models, software usually Photoshop.

Science Fiction has been described as a literature of place and setting. Have you read anything that interested you? Does the architecture of virtual reality interest you? Did you ever read Heinlein’s “And He Built a Crooked House” in which an architect designs a house in the shape of “the shadow of a tesseract”, but an earthquake collapses it’s 3D structure through the 4rht dimension. Or Larry Niven’s “Oath of Fealty”, about a self contained city structure built on the ruins of LA’s slums? Probably not. Don’t mind me.

No, I've never read science fiction. On my web site you can see several projects that look at the use of information technology. These are, the VRI project, the Video Beach house, and the Elements project.

Autonomous Dwelling 1980

Where can we see some of your pieces or houses?

Visit my web site or come here to Valencia, the M-house is built on our land near Gorman Ca.

How much does it cost to live in a Michael Jantzen house?

Cost vary with each design, in general like all custom things they are not cheap unless mass produced

If your work could change the world, what would you like the impact to be?

To expand our awareness of other possibilities.

Other sites of interest about Michael Jantzen

Bus Stop of the Future

HUMAN SHELTER RESEARCH INSTITUTE Advancing Shelter Technology Through Research and Development A Michael Jantzen Project