Foam Home

Styrofoam homes may sound like a recipient for disaster, but Japan Dome House Co., Ltd. thinks they're the future. Maybe, if that's a future where all of us are hobbits or smurfs.

Made with 7-inch-thick 100% expanded polystyrene foam modules, the company says that they don't have the maintenance problems of wood or metal structures, and they are "highly resistant" to earthquakes, fires, and typhoons. But does that explain why the 480 domes at Aso Farm Land resort village in Kyushu look like a suburban community on Mos Eisley's outskirts? Inside, however, the homes look huge.

Each module is only 175 pounds, and they can be carried and assembled by a couple of people in a matter of hours.