Meet the Blob vB3, a Mobile Home With Endless Functionality Under That Egg-Shaped Exterior

This is the Blob vB3, one of the most peculiar-looking mobile homes you’re likely to see all week. The Blob might have a very unfortunate and rather nasty-sounding name, but at least it’s accurate. It is not a new project, going all the way back to 2009, when the world didn’t really care this much about affordable, possibly alternative housing to tackle a severe crisis.

It deserves a bit more time in the spotlight, given recent developments and the ever-rising interest in this type of mobile living structure.

The Blob came to be after several attempts made by design firm dmvA to build an extension to a house for XfactorAgencies, a Netherlands-based agency for furniture design with nothing in common with the X Factor televised talent competition series. All the proposals filed with the city by dmvA would get rejected so, in the end, the designers decided to try and skirt regulations – both so they could honor their contract and as a sort of F-U to the city.

The result was an egg-shaped structure no larger than a caravan in size, which was mobile and easily transportable due to its light weight, but also spacious enough to include all the basic comforts of a home. Because of its shape, it also offered endless functionality, since it could be put to whatever purpose you needed it for, from an office to a permanent residence, a backyard unit, or a rental.

Builder AD&C completed the construction in 18 months, starting from a timber frame, over which they stretched material plastered with polyester. The interior space is about 20 square meters (215.3 square feet), with the designers overriding the issue of building main living areas in a space without any corners by carving niches along the walls.

Photos in the gallery show exactly how this works: the Blob has shelf-like spaces all around, and these shelves serve distinct purposes, including cooking and sleeping, and, of course, storage. Different LED lighting help to further make the distinction between the spaces. Is it the most comfortable or the most natural layout? Definitely not. But that doesn’t make it impractical.

To further drive home the message that this mobile home is functional, designers also included a full bathroom with a shower at one end. Meanwhile, the other end serves as a porch, with the nose opening automatically at the press of a button. The space between the outer and inner shell was filled with PUR insulation, to make the unit more than just a summer residence.

“You could easily use this mobile unit as an office, a guestroom, a reception, a garden-house, or whatever you want to,” the designers wrote in the project’s description. “The material used is polyester, sizes are like a big caravan, and it can be moved to any place you like,” particularly in large overcrowded urban areas where getting permission to build a new structure was nearly impossible.

The Blob vB3 was presented in 2009 and made the rounds at trade events both in its native Netherlands and abroad, in countries like France, for the following couple of years. Its biggest appeal was the fact that it proposed an alternative housing solution for the city: one that was mobile, since building on land was often impossible. The fact that it did so by working around local regulations turned it into an object of art, as also did its unique shape and unfortunate name.

In the years that have passed since, we’ve learned to think outside the box, including with housing. Maybe not all of us would pay money to live inside an egg-shaped house, inside a shelved blob, but if there are people willing to try living inside walking houses with gardens, maybe the Blob would get a shot too.