Perched high on the northern slop of Mt. Helix is the luxurious 5,300+ square foot home that rotates through 360 degrees displaying views from the Coronado Bridge, downtown San Diego, the Ocean north to La Jolla, Mission trails park and the Laguna Mountains.
This home is an example of the future of architecture "Kinetic Architecture". It is the only structure in the world, that we know of, that is a fully functional rotating structure with all the utilities in the rotating portion (unlike the Space Needle and rotating bars located in some hotels) along with many other unique features.
How It Rotates
The second rotating floor rides on top of the 50' in diameter first floor on 40, 8" bearings that each have a 50,000 pound capacity, a main bearing in the center of the elevator shaft carries 1,364,000 pounds and the drive wheels (two 16" x 3" wheels) are in pillow block bearings that carry 150,000 pounds each - that's a 3,664,000 pound capacity, the second rotating floor weighs 600,000 pounds. It is driven by a 1.5 horse power DC motor, it takes .8 hp to start and .75 hp to run the house in either direction anywhere from one revolution in 33 minutes up to one revolution in 24 hours, it can rotate in either direction as many times as one would want (it doesn't have to unwind). The motor drives the drive wheels through a 1564 to 1 dual worm gear transmission - very smoothly.
The first floor is close to the mountain but has a path all the way around it. The house could be built on flat land or on a central column (no first floor or the rotating floor could be on ground level) or several columns ours is the way it is because of the lot we choose to build it on.
Our home has one rotating floor, however, you could have a 2 or 3 (or more) story house where all floors turn together or independently from each other.
The home has a stationary 600 sq. ft. basement and a stationary first floor with a garage that has turntables for two cars to turn 180 degrees so they never have to back out, it also has a rec. room, kitchenette, full bath and the entry, it is 2,100 square feet and has a central elevator (to be installed in 2011) that will serve as a front door to the main portion of the home. There is a patio and putting green off the first floor. The main structure is 80 feet in diameter, 5,100 square feet and rotates; it is 3,700 square feet of living space, 1,400 square feet of rotating deck and has a living-dining room, kitchen, great room, office, laundry, pantry, elevator equipment room, 3 bedrooms and 3 baths.
Equipped with state of the art technology, finger print locks, 4.8KW of photo voltaic panels, gas and electric tank less water heaters, computerized lighting system that can be operated from cell phones from anywhere in the world and a roof that can be flooded in case of fire or a Santa Ana condition (local warm weather condition) for extra insulation and then recycled into the gray water system to water the yard. The second rotating floor also has 1,200 square feet of fixed deck all with stunning views. The glass is all laminated glass that provides excellent security for the home. The outside over hang over the rotating deck varies from 5' to 10' and because the house turns it creates shade or sun for additional help with heat and cooling.
The heating/air conditioning system has a seer rating of 22 (much like you would have if you lived in the hottest part of the Mohave desert) with four zones and return air vents in every room - thus you only have to heat or cool two or four or six or all the rooms, the system is also a three stag system so it starts at 5 then 8 then 13 amps to cool the entire 3,700 sq. ft. A normal air conditioner would pull 50 to 60 amps to cool 3,700 sq. ft. We also have a 16 camera security system that can again be viewed on our iPhone's from anywhere in the world. We have 45 items patented on three different patents for just the house we also have 26 additional item patented on 4 additional patents for our next project rotating towers where each floor of say a 60 story tower rotates independently from the others.