{"id":2213,"date":"2013-08-27T06:30:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T13:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/compositesandarchitecture.com\/?p=2213"},"modified":"2013-08-13T18:28:14","modified_gmt":"2013-08-14T01:28:14","slug":"save-a-banga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kreysler.zaab.org\/?p=2213","title":{"rendered":"Save a Banga"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our recent series of posts about small, pre-fab FRP shelters from past decades (Futuro House<\/a>, The Fly\u2019s Eye Dome<\/a>, and Kalikosmia<\/a>) has attracted the attention of a crusader, German architect Pamela Voigt.\u00a0 An historian of what she terms \u201cplastic houses,\u201d Voigt contacted Composites and Architecture to alert us to the availability of a flock of FRP bungalows from the early 70’s, called Bangas.\u00a0 Available, as in, \u201cFor Sale\u201d and in need of buyers to preserve them from destruction.<\/p>\n

The Bangas were designed by Carlo Zappa in 1971, produced and sold by Bungalows International SRL, Milan, Italy.\u00a0 Completely factory-assembled including cast-in plumbing fixtures and integrated furnishings, the Banga was designed to sleep four people on couches that convert to beds.\u00a0 Its footprint is a 3.25m (10.7 ft) square with truncated corners, for an area of 8.1 m2 (87 sf).\u00a0 The walls are a sandwich made of two 2.5mm (1\/10 inch) layers of FRP with a foam core, for a 30mm (1.2 inch) thick wall assembly.<\/p>\n

The current flock of 26 Bangas comprise a former holiday\/camping site in Sicily, not used in almost a quarter-century.\u00a0 Now, the property is slated to be re-developed, and the Bangas must go.\u00a0 Voigt is seeking buyers to adopt (i.e. purchase) and restore them.<\/p>\n

Voigt reports that the FRP shells have some cracks in the ceiling, the result of an ill-informed attempt to move them using a crane attached through the ceiling-hole, but they are otherwise sound and showing only minimal bared-fibers on the surfaces. \u00a0 The Bangas are very dirty and moss-covered from neglect, though.\u00a0 She has lined up a German firm, FiberTech, Chemnitz, to do restoration once buyers have been found.\u00a0 They will be repaired, cleaned, and presumably resurfaced as necessary.\u00a0 The cost of a fully restored Banga will be 20,000 euros plus taxes and transportation.\u00a0 Transportation will include partial disassembly and a special frame to protect the shape structurally; it will fit in a shipping container.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in owning an unusual slice of architectural history, contact Pamela Voigt, Brandvorwerkstra\u00dfe 52-54, D 04275 Leipzig. pamela.voigt@kunststoffbauten.de<\/a>.\u00a0 She has also co-authored a book on the pioneers of FRP housing, which is available on her website, \u00a0www.kunststoffbauten.de<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Images courtesy of Pamela Voigt<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t