Edible Houses?

The Wall Street Journal asked four architects to develop plans for the ultimate green home not bound by technology, cost or preference.  The results are rather surprising if not imaginative.  Among the designs submitted:

The “Incredible Edible House” featuring a façade covered by a vertical garden of  chickpeas, tomatoes, arugula and green tea.  The garden not only produces food but also shade to cool the home.  The home also includes a rooftop reservoir for collecting water, rooftop windmills and is constructed of three prefabricated containers.

A house like a tree complete with a thin photosynthetic layer to capture sunlight, a sleek curved roof, a self cleaning layer of "bark" as well as a heat pump exchange system for the "roots".

The "reptile house" has a “biomorphic”  skin that reacts to the weather, turning dark in the sunlight to insulate from heat and clear when it is dark to absorb a higher amount of light and heat.  This house utilizes “biomimicry” or nature’s way of solving problems as a means of attaining energy efficiency. 

The Mouzon Design House combines the sensibility of the past with the technological innovation of the future.  Features solar paneling built directly into the roof, a breeze chimney, vertical gardens on the sides of the house and tilapia pools in a “kitchen garden” for the homeowner to grow their own protein.