La Casa Volante (The Flying House)Annunzio Lagomarsini (b. 1932)

Annunzio Lagomarsini worked for many years in his family-owned building company, constructing a variety of buildings and teaching himself many things about structures and engineering. He decided to put some of his ideas to use when, beginning in 1977, he spent seven years designing and building his Flying House, in which he lived with his wife in the rural areas of La Spezia. Using recycled materials from building and naval yards, improvising as he went and without formal designs or help from others, he built a 110 square meter (1184 square foot) house on top of a metal platform that enables the house to be lifted 20 meters (65 feet) up in the air. The levitating structure, consisting of levers and counterweights moved by hydraulic cylinders, also allows the house to rotate 360 degrees and to slide on two tracks a distance of 12 meters (almost 40 feet). The house itself is a rather typical 1 ½-level rectangular structure, with no special decorations or adornments, inside or out. When Lagomarsini was asked why he built his house on the levitating platform, he said, “I wanted to see the sea!”

Lagomarsini created other “machines” on the grounds as well, including an anemometer tower measuring wind speed and wind pressure. In his garage there are also a variety of smaller inventions, including a metal human-scaled alter ego.

The house and other inventions are located at the Lagomarsinis’ grounds, near the town cemetery. Due to mechanical problems, however, the movements of the house are now limited.

~Guido Lotti

www.costruttoridibabele.net

Castelnuovo Magra, Liguria, 19033 it
Latitude/Longitude: 44.101585 / 10.017428

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