Evening star., 1932-08-06
ADDED SECTIONS
TO FORM HOMES
Chicago Architect Designs
Units Like Files or
Bookcases.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
CHICAGO, August (NAN.A0.-To-
day we build homes and put furniture
in them.
In the future we will build houses
around our furniture and both houses
and furniture will be radically different
from those In use today.
This Is the opinion Of c. r. T. Hess,
consulting decorator, who has taken
the sectional filing cabinet and section
al bookcase OF the modern Office as the
inspiration for the new type OF steel
and glass house which he has designed.
Rooms for this house can be built
virtually complete at the factory and
shipped knocked down, ready to be as
sembled on the site. Starting with a
central unit and a work unit which
contains all of the necessary machinery,
pipes, ducts and wires for modern
home, the home owner can add or sub
tract rooms as his needs require.
Has Circular Staircase.
The central unit as worked out by
Mr.. Hess, is IL feet square and, in
common with all other units, has
ceiling height Of eight feet 1t contains
a circular staircase in the center OF the
compartment, while the corners carry
the air ducts for the hot-air furnace
and the water and sewer pipes and
electrical conduits.
If the house is only one story the
circular staircase gives access TO an out
door living room on the roof.
The principal room units have an
area of 12x16 feet each. BY using an
auxiliary unit with each principal unit
an infinite variety of floor plans can be
worked out, with each room having
light on three sides.
In the model shown by Mr.. Hess
there is a garage, laundry, kitchen and
combination living and dining room on
the first floor, while on the second are
three bedrooms, three baths and
fenced-in terrace. There Is another
fenced-in terrace on the roof.
Expansion Is Easy.
"The sectional idea embodied in the
sectional filing cabinet is here applied
to the house" said Mr.. Hess. "A family
can start with a few rooms and add
other rooms as they require them. The
furniture can be expanded in the same
way. Drawer and closet space can be
added a unit or two at time.
The dining table is in units. each
complete in itself. A small family may
normally require two or three units.
Additional units can serve as side tables
or serving tables and be incorporated in
the dining table when company comes.
Houses such as I have designed can
be built in the near future and fur
nished with furniture far more attrac-
tive and efficient than that on the mar
ket today for far less than the unfur-
nished houses cost. A house of my
design containing $4,000 cubic feet has
the efficiency of 24,000-cubic-foot
house as it Is now ordinarily built.
THE furniture of the house of the
future will be largely of metal, and in
stead of the expensive and short-lived
spring upholstery we will have seats
and backs of sponge rubber. Every
room will have croSs-ventilation, but
the windows will never be opened be-
cause the house will be mechanically
cooled in summer and supplied with
the proper degree Of humidity the year
around"
(CopyriRht. 1892. bv North American News
paper Alliance. 1nc.)
Nearly two-thirds Of the timber sup
piled by Soviet Russia is used for fuel