Transformer Houses

[Jessterw]

Our Canadian members might be familiar with this, but it's the first I've heard of it...

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/transformer-houses.html

In 1987, Canadian photographer Robin Collyer began documenting houses that aren't houses at all – they're architecturally-disguised electrical substations, complete with windows, blinds, and bourgeois landscaping.
"During the 1950s and 1960s," Collyer explains in a recent issue of Cabinet Magazine, "the Hydro-Electric public utilities in the metropolitan region of Toronto built structures known as 'Bungalow-Style Substations.' These stations, which have transforming and switching functions, were constructed in a manner that mimics the style and character of the different neighborhoods."

Coming from an architectural and design background, that's damn neat. In school we studied some theory behind blending non-flattering structures into the surrounding area by why of architecture, but this is by far one of the best examples of it.

[agallag]

The first "house" on that page is about a 5 minute walk from my place. If anyone's interested, it's approximately here:

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=83+elm+ridge+dr,+toronto+on&ie=UTF8&ll=43.703665,-79.43355&spn=0.002591,0.006738&t=h&om=1

The arrow is not quite in the right spot, it's actually two houses to the east, the last one before the traffic circle. I walk by it all the time when we go for walks through the neighborhood.

[lowlifecat]

damn, and here i was hoping to see house that transform into giant robots. :|

[High_Jumbllama]

Isn't this how Tripticon came about?

[az]

We had a water whatever station thingy concealed as a house built just recently only a few hundred meters away. I'll see if I can snap a picture or two tomorrow.