Shiver House

Where architecture is seen as static and function-led, this kinetic, animal-like structure in Finland represents living spatial poetry that seeks to create an emotional bond between the human mind and its physical environment.

Tucked amid the tree-laden landscape of Korppoo in southern Finland, the “Shiver House” by London-based studio NEON gives a modern twist on traditional wooden Finnish huts known as mökki. Although the Shiver House was previously made as a 4-month long installation for the Barfotastigen Arts Exhibition, its popularity prolonged its existence – even creating a new version from Finnish airplane ply on the project’s fifth anniversary.

While the original version of the Shiver House bears a four-sided timber frame with around 600 counterweighted shingles made from folded polypropylene sheets on a tensioned steel wire, its latter reinterpretation used a series of folded and cut airplane ply shingles soaked in protective oil. Whereas, stainless steel nuts and bolts were used as counterweights.

Its array of animated shingles serving as the key point of the structure is inspired by kinetic sculpture, wherein counterweights are used in larger forms to ignite motion without electrical power.

In good weather, the shingles lay flat in an approving stance, enabling ethereal views of the surrounding landscape flooded in natural daylight. An overwhelming surge of wind, snow, and rain will cause the shingles to orchestrate a protective, sheltering skin by rotating into a closed position.

The reinterpreted sense of biomimicry on each shivering shingle goes beyond functionality, and instead allures users into a meditative state – mimicking similar emotions upon seeing the wind blow across the meadow, or how waves disintegrate amid colossal rocks.

Constantly morphing between a functional dwelling and an experiential device, the Shiver House creatively delved into the idea that architecture can come alive – making way for a deep, emotional connection between its inhabitants and the environment where it set forth.