I thought this rotating house was impossible.

Tom Scott · 8.3M views · 2023 · 7:31

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Civil engineering & constructionMechanical & precision engineeringexplainer

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN likes the clear animation of how slip rings and piping let a house rotate.

What it is

Tom Scott visits a rotating house near San Diego and explains how electricity, gas and water keep working on the rotating part. It includes a 3D render of the utility connection system.

Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2023 to 2024.

What Hacker News said

Recommends jpalomaki · 2023-08 · on “I thought this rotating house was impossible [video]”

The part where it shows how the electricity and piping works was pretty interesting. Skip to ~3:00 to see this [1] Patent shown in the video [2]. [1] [this video] [2] [LINK]

Recommends isaidthis · 2023-10 · on “The Midwit Smart Home”

The owner of a custom rotating house in California cited a similar reason for moving. The video is worth watching but here is the relevant section: "I've had 18 heart procedures. My wife is in perfect health. The odds of me outliving her are zero...We're moving back to Coronado. This is a complex house, even though I think it's simple! For her to try and teach somebody else how to run everything and do everything would be difficult if something happened to me. So we're just kind of jumping ahead." [this video]

Recommends dabluecaboose · 2024-02 · on “Rotating house goes up for sale in New Zealand”

Unsure about this particular house in NZ, but there's one in California that Tom Scott did a video on with a very good animation of how its electricity/water/sewage slip ring works: [this video]

Recommends alargemoose · 2024-02 · on “Rotating house goes up for sale in New Zealand”

It’s not the same rotating house, but Tom Scott did a video last year that has a great 3D render of the system that designer used to facilitate their build! [this video]