I thought this rotating house was impossible.
I thought this rotating house was impossible.
Near San Diego, California, there’s a rotating house: and somehow, all the utilities, the electricity, gas and water, work even on the rotating part. How’s that possible? ■ Al’s site: https://rotatinghome.com ■ The real estate listing: http://navrealestate.co/4903-mount-helix-dr
This is not an advert; I received no payment other than access and had full editorial control.
Camera: Juan Gracia, Bream Velasquez
Local production: @TwoBitDaVinci
Graphics: Stijn Orlans
I’m at https://tomscott.com
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and on Instagram as tomscottgo
I didn’t have time to fit it in the video, but: on the basement floor, in the non-rotating part, there’s another turntable: so you can park your car and not have to reverse out!
Oh okay, Thats quite cool
Dang, should have film that.
agreed
…Did you just time travel?
Where is this house? Like, an address?
As soon as I read “rotating house” my brain went into overdrive trying to think of ways the services could work. Interesting to see how he achieved it through slips rings.
my brain even started spinning
@Daithi hahaha same – when I saw the solution I was blown away by it. Incredibly clever.
I had multiple ideas, most of which wouldn’t have worked. The actual method certainly was most genius.
Not just slip rings, but slip rings with built-in leak detection!
Sweet.
Today this could be done by the house moving to a “service position”, say once a week at 2am, in which a fresh water tank is refilled, grey/waste water tanks are emptied, and the battery bank is recharged (if roof solar was not sufficient). Internet would be via point-to-point WiFi. Automated actuators would engage quick-release couplings for the fluid exchanges. Of course this would not be nearly as elegant as the existing solution!
This house is a piece of engineering art. Can’t just be sold to anyone with money. It needs someone who will take care of it.
Who ever buys it can surely afford to have it maintained.
“It belongs in a museum!”
which means: i agree.
As do all houses.
@safffff1000just because they can doesn’t mean they will though…
@safffff1000 Yep. selling for 5.3 Million
Not only did he make parts, but he also made them in a manner that they had redundancy. The man is truly a genius engineer.
When you engineer for yourself you overengineer. When you do it for a corporation you don’t include an immobilizer because it saves you 1/2 cent per car.
@Interdimensional So what you’re saying is that every engineer hoards all the good engineering for themselves and theoretically, all engineer houses are full of secret (and probably illegal) gadgets?
@Connor Darvall You ever been to an engineer’s house? Because you’ve described it perfectly.
Tom got incredibly lucky to actually have the guy who built it explain it
And us very lucky that we got this shared with us and get to know this ingenuity.
Reminds me of the hamster microwave interview that was also great.
Thats what i’m saying!!! I was expecting some loser who bought the thing trying to explain wtf is going on but NO its the man himself. SO COOL
Yea.. Incredible how something is able to spin.
@Danny Green danny green is damny mean
As a science fiction author, hearing about how the utilities were transferred through a rotating bearing is so incredibly helpful for designing rotating space stations.
you have chapters that go into detail about where the space station poo poo goes?
@PooPooDingDong456456 Like with any good world, building up the little details are very important. Readers appreciate those things so it’s good to include them
@DooDooBumMan Chapters, no. A line or a paragraph here and there, sure, I could see that.
@DooDooBumMan It’s very hard science fiction. Chapters? No. Is it mentioned? Yes, and I want it to be accurate.
@Kerman Guy ay a fellow hard science fiction writer 😀
I really felt for him when he explained why they’re selling the house, he’s a guy filled with love and compassion
Hope it’s not secretly because earthquakes.
And there’s a man who is accepting his mortality as well. How many people would be so pro-active about it?
@Just Looking People who… write wills? Buy life insurance? Make retirement plans?
do you even know him
Quite a sad story
Kudos to whoever did the graphics. Made a very difficult concept quite easy to understand.
👀
@Real Engineeringhaha
@Real Engineering Ah. You did? Nice job with them!
“Graphics: Stijn Orlans” It’s in the description my friend. Tom Scott is not one to forget to give credits.
@Real Engineering For real? 😂I was literally thinking as I watched this “wow these are some Real Engineering level graphics”
Wasn’t expecting to see the homeowner being the person who designed and built the house. How awesome!
It’s easy to take credit when you’re the one paying the help.
@Rick James Sure except he invented and patented technology to make the house work and I doubt he let just anyone install a cutting edge piece of plumbing. This man very well can claim a large portion of the credit for this house’s construction, and not just because he funded it
This is a man who definitely earned his success. The man got a patent just to get his house built, ignored all the haters, and fixed problems that less competent people left behind. A true genius.
We don’t know how he got to be rich enough to do this. Just because he’s smart enough to manage this vanity, project doesn’t mean he deserves his success. He could have inherited his money or made from a payday loan company.
@angermyodeok
Oh stop, there’s no “haters” .. ffs that’s a cop out word for people who don’t understand, others can know more than themselves.
@angermyodeif he inherited the money required to do this the probability he would have designed and built it mostly himself is close to zero.
People who don’t work for their money make their money work for them.