I've seen quite a few articles on the web in the past few weeks regarding a house that has been erected (tee-hee) on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. The house was constructed by design firm KWK Promes with the intention of delivering a home for a client who was interested in maximum security. "Maximum security" for most people would pertain to fending off potential home invasions or vandalism, however in this case "maximum security" would seem to involve surviving something just short of direct contact with a mid-to-high yield nuclear weapon judging by the look of the house.
In essence, they carved a house out of a block of concrete. Here's a description of the so-called "Safe House" from its developers (additional text and pictures available at
HomeDSGN).
The clients’ top priority was to gain the feeling of maximum security in their future house, which determined the building’s outlook and performance. The house took the form of a cuboid in which parts of the exterior walls are movable.
When the house opens up to the garden, eastern and western side walls move towards the exterior fence creating a courtyard.
After crossing the gate one has to wait in this safety zone before being let inside the house. In the same time, there is no risk of children escaping to the street area in an uncontrolled way while playing in the garden.
The innovation of this idea consists in the interference of the movable walls with the urban structure of the plot. Consequently, when the house is closed (at night for example) the safe zone is limited to the house’s outline. In the daytime, as a result of the walls opening, it extends to the garden surrounding the house.
The sliding walls are not dependent on the form of the building. That is why this patent can be applied to both modern and traditional, single – and multi – storeyed houses covered with roofs of different geometry.
This universal solution we came up with gives a new type of building where not the form but the way of functioning is the most important. The name: “safe house” gains a new meaning now.
Accomplishment of this idea required the use of technically complex solutions. The most significant are the sliding walls (both 2,2 m high, 22 and 15 m long), which allow to interfere with the urban structure and determine the safe zone of the plot.
They are not the only mobile elements of the building. Apart from these, there are large shutters (all 2,8 m high, with a width ranging up to 3,5 m, opening up to 180 degrees) and a drawbridge leading to the roof terrace above the swimming pool.
The southern elevation is closed by an enormous roll-down gate of 14 and 6 m manufactured by a company normally supplying shipyards and air companies. It is made with white anodized aluminum which makes it possible to function as a movie projection screen.
All the movable elements are based on built-in electronic engines, that guarantee safe operation.
Wide glazings behind the movable walls let the building acquire energy during the day (winter) or prevent the sun’s heat from going into the house (summer). At night, when the house is closed, the thick outer layer helps the building to accumulate the gained energy. Such a solution together with the hybrid heat system (most of the energy is gained from renewable sources – heat pump and solar systems supported with gas heating) and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery makes the house become an intelligent passive building.
Every day the house acts in a similar way – it wakes up every morning to close up after the dusk. This routine reminds of the processes occurring in nature – the house resembles a plant in its day and night cycle.
The house resembles a plant, eh? I'd say it resembles a cinder block, actually, but who am I to judge? I don't think a more fruity spin than that could've possibly been applied to such an industrial-looking structure. I've seen prisons that come of as being more warm and cushy than this thing.
Be that as it may, when the minions of the Internet caught wind of the existence of this home they went into a tizzy over the idea of a house that could - in theory - assist you and your loved ones in overcoming the perils of the almost-certain-to-happen-within-our-lifetime zombie apocalypse while also maintaining a dwelling that is absolutely posh in the process. Indeed, fanboys with massive nerd-love for everything George Romero's ever created were seemingly salivating over the idea of repelling legions of the undead from the assured safety of this house. (I have to admit the possibility of mowing down a throng of zombies with a machine gun turret sounds awesome.) However, much like the hundreds if not thousands of hapless victims of zombie lore who thought they were doing everything right only to have their entrails ripped out by a hungry ghoul, I don't think they've thought this house through quite well enough for it to be dubbed zombie proof.
At first glance, the house definitely appears to be a secure structure in terms of its construction. Reinforced concrete, while not a typical construction material in the housing market, is a great choice when it comes to options for preventing penetration (tee-hee). Short of an attack using military-grade weaponry, I would have to agree that this home could take just about anything when fully closed. I question the choice of creating a perimeter wall that does not appear (judging by the available photos of the site) to completely surround the property; this does nothing but create a mild hindrance to potential adversaries. Aside from this, the primary areas of concern I have when examining its design are the roll-up security door and exposed glass around the pool as well as that of the connecting pathway to the pool.
Why? When the zombie apocalypse comes, it will be a virulent outbreak the likes of which has not been seen on this planet since the era of such diseases as the black plague where significant portions of the world's population were affected. Invariably, the people (those who aren't infected) will look to their governments for aid, and invariably their governments will fail to be able to assist them all. Knowing that they are on their own, otherwise law-abiding people will degenerate into a state of lawlessness. Looting and violence will be rampant as people accept that they must do whatever is necessary to survive, up to and including murder for the sake of acquiring supplies. This being the case, one would have to assume that said vandals might have the wherewithal to organize and have the capacity to execute a strategical assault upon a compound like this one. Assuming these vandals had access to heavy equipment like bulldozers or, God forbid, armored vehicles such as a tank, the perimeter walls, the roll-up door, and the glass are going to be about as effective in deterring an attack as a saltine cracker will be against a sandblaster.
As an aside to this, I'd like to revisit a portion of the description of the house pertaining to the shutters and their functionality that stood out to me.
All the movable elements are based on built-in electronic engines, that guarantee safe operation.
If this were a movie, the mention of "guaranteed safe operation" would be a moment of foreboding on an epic scale. (I'm talking foreboding on the level of an admittedly impossible scenario where the designer of the Titanic claims his creation is an unsinkable ship while having a conversation with the crew of the Apollo 13 space mission.) It would be the point in the film we're reminded of 30 minutes later in the picture when a wayward bumble bee flies into the apparatus and renders it completely inoperable, leaving us all standing around with dumbfounded expressions on our faces as we realize that our impenetrable fortress of "guaranteed" survival suddenly has a lot in common with a piece of Swiss cheese. Is there a manual override to the system? (Even if there was, in the event of an attack I highly doubt it would be something that could be engaged quickly enough to head off the danger at hand as it would take a lot of effort to move all those pieces at once.) Likewise, what are we to do if we seal ourselves in then some time later go to disengage the mechanism only to find that none of the gears are turning? Have we unwittingly entombed ourselves? Will performing maintenance on the system require an engineering background or will knowledge of small engine repair suffice?
Following our example, we have now created a scenario where the home has been effectively breached - this without even directly involving our original intended opponents, the zombie horde. As someone living inside the "safe house" at this point, we must shift our strategy accordingly and hope that our cinder block of a house can be salvaged. Does the home have internal defensive structures? Can an effective perimeter be established? Are there safe areas within the home that can serve as a fallback point? Do these safe areas provide us access to supplies that might be required for use in a prolonged assault or allow us to in some way communicate to the outside world in the unlikely event that military troops or police forces arrive? These are all pertinent and relevant questions which will have hopefully been addressed in the design phase of the home because if we as survivors are trying to make rush decisions in the midst of combat we are almost certainly doomed.
Much like situations involving being stranded in a foreign landscape (such as a vehicular failure that leaves you in an isolated condition with limited supplies), enduring an assault by zombies boils down to two factors: Survivability and sustainability. Survivability pertains such things as having shelter and tools that will aid you in navigating a harsh landscape, whereas sustainability is the process of maintaining those items which are crucial to life like food and water. Lets examine both aspects as they relate to this home.
In planning a true zombie-proof dwelling, there are many factors to consider. The potential end of mankind as we have known it will come with haste, so quickly that an attempt to develop a plan of survival after the fact will be extremely difficult if not altogether pointless. The basics of a survival plan for successfully outlasting the zombie apocalypse would include stockpiling of necessary goods like food (preferably MREs - Meals Ready to Eat - but also taking into account the potential for growing your own food supply; I'll touch on this later in the
Sustainability section), water, medicine, fuel, batteries, tools, building materials (lumber, concrete, and the like for the purpose of assembling barricades or performing structural repairs when needed), weapons, ammunition, etc. This inventory would be large as we may be forced to exist cut off from the outside for years. The question then becomes where to put it all?
In configuring a home like this, it would be wise to incorporate a sprawling subterranean element with separate compartments for each set of materials so that, for example, if a mishap occurs with our weapons cache we won't have inadvertently ruined our food supply. This ultimate basement of sorts would need to be secure yet accessible, which is a challenging combination of characteristics to implement; arguably more challenging than the effort needed to assemble our stockpile of supplies.
Maintaining some sort of communication with the outside world will be vital, not only in terms of being aware of what's going on out there but also potentially keeping in contact with others who could provide critical information or assistance. Radios capable of communicating on civilian and emergency frequencies, networking equipment for connecting to the Internet via a hardline or cellular transmission, and satellite phones make for an idealistic combination as there is an amount of redundancy in place. We should never forget the simplest of options in this regard, though. There's nothing elegant about signal flares and bonfires but it is difficult to discredit their effectiveness in alerting potential rescue operations of our whereabouts (a certain amount of restraint should be used in deploying these as there's a chance it could inadvertently alert looters or the undead to our whereabouts).
We're going to need energy in the form of fuel (gasoline, diesel, bio-diesel, etc.), electricity, natural gas, batteries, or what have you to keep crucial systems within the home functional. Along the same lines, generators would be helpful although they aren't a permanent solution to our consumption needs as they, themselves, require fuel to function. (Renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind turbines would be ideal for use in this circumstance, and setting up a collection farm for these resources somewhere on our compound is a paramount concern. This is one topic that stands to be worthy of discussion in terms of both
Survivability and
Sustainability.)
Pacifism will more than likely not be an option when the zombie outbreak occurs. There will be acts of violence all around you and the time will inevitably come where you will be forced to defend yourself either from uninfected intruders or the living dead. Since our adversaries present similar but different weaknesses, a combination of armaments - guns and blades - would be preferable.
In terms of firepower, your immediate desire might be to go for automatic weapons with laser siting and a compliment of attached accessories. What you'd wind up with is a fancy rifle that you more than likely aren't going to be able to maintain or re-arm all that easily. A better option would be to equip yourself with simplistic guns which make use of readily available ammunition. A .38 caliber revolver, a semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle, and a pump-action shotgun make for a solid combination of weapons that don't require formal military training to maintain and for which ammunition will be much easier to locate. These will be adequate for defensive purposes but also for hunting. (Crossbows or compound bows aren't necessarily bad choices as they have their uses; carrying enough arrows or bolts to be effective could become cumbersome, though, and I question the stopping power of a bow & arrow against more than one attacking zombie.)
When it comes to dispatching the undead, remember that removing the ghoul's head or otherwise destroying its brain are the only methods of guaranteed destruction. Hits to the torso or extremities of a zombie may impede its mobility but will not eliminate the threat it poses. (A crawling zombie is just as deadly as a walking one.) It is recommended that head-shots be your primary objective as well as that you maintain as much distance as possible between yourself and your targets. Close-quarters combat with the living dead should be avoided if at all possible, however should you find yourself in this situation (perhaps having been forced into it by way of a limited supply of ammunition) a bladed weapon may be your best option. Machetes, hatchets, and axes are readily available, relatively light weight, easy to use, and stand the best chance of helping you keep yourself alive during an encounter. More exotic weapons like swords should be avoided; unless you happen to be trained on how to properly use one, that is, and that the weapon in question was constructed with the intention of being used in combat (replica swords are typically made of low-grade materials that are not battle-ready and stand a good chance of failing catastrophically).
Dealing with an assault by human forces stands to be more challenging than dealing with the living dead for a number of reasons, primary among them being that zombies don't have the ability to develop a strategic plan of attack. Their hunger is all that drives them and their only true methodology is to rely on overwhelming numbers rather than clever maneuvers to achieve their goal (if you can call eating a person's brain a goal, that is). This being the case, the tried and true advantages typically sought in warfare will hold for our compound, those being to know our surroundings and to maintain the high ground. It might not seem that these facets of combat offer much hope but they are our best options seeing as how we'll have limited, if any, reconnaissance information relating to the forces we'll be facing. Being overly aggressive is to be overly risky, after all.
It goes without saying that along with the end of humanity so too shall many of our modern creature comforts follow suit. Sure, I'd like to think that once the zombies begin to overrun segments of our landscape that those areas which haven't yet been touched might still be able to function and provide us with access to things like Wendy's hamburgers but I have a feeling that people barely making minimum wage aren't going to be willing to risk being eaten alive for the sake of serving up greasy fast food. This being the case, in order to prepare for the rise of the undead we're going to have to be able to maintain ourselves with adequate sustenance.
Gathering a stockpile of canned goods is an obvious strategy. Earlier in this piece I mentioned MREs, which have been used for decades by soldiers fighting on the front lines. They consist of foods that have been freeze-dried or are otherwise loaded with so many preservatives that they last virtually forever. Unfortunately, while they are great for long-term storage they aren't necessarily all that palatable. Nevertheless, if ever there was a situation where beggars can't be choosers, this is it. MREs are readily available from any number of vendors including local military surplus stores, making them incredibly easy to obtain.
The potential for existing on nothing but MREs for years is a potentiality most folks would just as soon avoid. That said, it is advisable to consider the possibility of living off the land surrounding our compound. Hunting missions could be considered if game is prevalent, however hunting is generally inadvisable. The chances of encountering a throng of living dead would be too great, and even if you were able to escape into a deer stand or some other contraption your adversaries could easily outlast you making the effort nearly pointless. In contrast to this, the notion of growing crops is quite sound. Establishing an area of the compound to serve as something of a farm or greenhouse should be explored as fresh vegetables will provide a wealth of nutrition.
Having access to fresh, clean drinking water is absolutely vital as the chances of dying from inadequate hydration are much greater than dying of starvation. Our compound will need water collection and filtration systems so that rainwater could be gathered. On the off chance that our home is located near a source of fresh water, and assuming it isn't affected by some sort of contamination, it would also stand as an opportunity for keeping ourselves from drying out.
A major consideration in developing the systems within our compound will be what sort of resources they'll require to function. Electricity will more than likely be our primary source of power as fossil fuels are almost out of the question (unless our compound sits on an oil well and refinery, that is). Solar panels and wind turbines are fantastic pieces of equipment in that they require very little in the way of maintenance and stand to yield sufficient energy to power our compound's necessary systems.
I realize that this is a lot of information to process and it's basically all for giggles seeing as how the notion of a genuine zombie outbreak is just plain fantastical. Granted, when faced with an element of realistic calamity we more than likely aren't going to have access to a home resembling anything remotely similar to this supposed "zombie-proof" dwelling. These are, however, useful (not to mention incredibly idealistic) recommendations that could be used in developing a survival strategy for dealing with natural disasters. They are proof that with adequate planning we as human beings can use our skills of adaptability to survive just about anything. Preparedness is an asset not to be dismissed so easily as the idea of the dead rising up out of the ground to walk again.
Now please excuse me while I attempt to adapt myself to the taste of MRE peanut butter...
