Matti Suuronen's 1969 Futuro house in Idyllwild, California, goes on sale

Finnish architect Matti Suuronen imagined the Futuro as a ski cabin you could drop almost anywhere: a lightweight, prefabricated pod of bolted-together fibreglass sections, insulated with polyurethane, quick to heat and light enough to be flown in by helicopter. Four concrete piers were meant to be all the foundation it needed. Fewer than 100 were ever made, and this one, known as the Donaldson Futuro, now sits on a rocky outcrop among the pines near Idyllwild, California.

It is unmistakably Space Age: an elliptical yellow shell around eight metres across, a ring of oval windows and an aircraft-style door reached by an outside staircase. Inside, about 74 square metres follow the curve, with a rounded sofa looking out to the mountains, a bedroom shaped to the shell and a kitchen of bright green cabinets. Owned by preservationist Milford Wayne Donaldson and his wife Laurie, it has been extensively restored to its 1969 design and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

designboom also explains why the idea never caught on: neighbours wary of plastic houses, zoning and financing hurdles, and the 1973 oil crisis pushing up material costs. Listed by Desert Sotheby's International Realty, it is a private home rather than somewhere to visit, but a lovely read for anyone fond of the future as the 1960s pictured it.

Our summary of a story from designboom, published 15 October 2026. Read the original

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