Hi Todd and All,

The egg shaped house is supposed to replace the housing the people had before the earthquake, which turned to rubble. Therefore, it is a permanent structure.

As temporary housing they already have tents for large numbers of people, I mean large numbers, in the 10's of thousands. But once they leave there, they need to rebuild their homes again. So instead of rebuilding using the same system that didn't work the last time, they need the egg shaped house so they don't constantly repeat history.

The novelty of the house is that it doesn't sit on the ground, but rather on a stabilizing system. Any kind of structure which is ground based seems to want to move in earthquakes, so if not earthbound, then surely more earthquake resistant.

I've kicked this idea around long enough to know that its something for someone else to tackle. I don't have the necessary skills or patience to work on this kind of project, but there are some marvelously intelligent folks out there who may just need an idea that's been on the shelf to work on. I hope so....Petra