Did you know that the 'nacelle,' which sits at the top of turbines and houses components like the generator and gearbox, is large enough to live in?
Well, that's the idea behind a recent project to repurpose decommissioned turbines by European energy company Vattenfall, in partnership with international architecture collective Superuse Studios. They are exploring what's possible with these old machines by building a tiny house in a nacelle and showing it at Dutch Design Week 2024 in Eindhoven.
The architects picked a nacelle from a Vestas turbine that ran for 20 years in Austria and had it brought down from its lofty perch 328 ft (100 m) above the ground.
This nacelle is 13 ft (4 m) wide, 32 ft (10 m) long, and 10 ft (3 m) high, making for approximately 376 sq.ft (35 sq.m) of living space inside. It's possibly among the smallest nacelles you'll come across; newer turbines that produce more power have substantially larger parts. So if this already makes for a nice little home, a bigger nacelle will be even easier to transform and live in.
A nacelle comes with a bunch of immediate benefits as it's watertight and lightweight. Superuse Studios kitted out the 'Nestle' with solar panels (on the roof) for electricity, and added plumbing and insulation. This shell is made of glass fiber reinforced plastics, which means it's durable - but also notoriously difficult to recycle. That makes it a good candidate for repurposing.
There's also a solar-powered water boiler for washing and showering, a heat pump for air conditioning, a decentralized ventilation system, and even an EV charging point on the exterior.
Inside, the cosy-looking 'Nestle' has a wooden interior complete with kitchenette, bathroom, and a combined sleeping and living area. For Dutch Design Week exhibition, the home was furnished with sustainably produced and second-hand furniture. As a further boost to the tiny house's credentials, there's even a table made of a recycled material that came from an old wind turbine blade.