The World’s First Truly Mobile Apartment Building is Completed in Finland

A Finnish <a href="http://inhabitat.com/architecture/">architecture</a> group has just built and successfully installed the world's first mobile apartment building. The 3-story, steel-framed building is a whopping 108 feet long, 40 feet high and weighs a total of 485,017 pounds. It was completely assembled in a shipyard warehouse and successfully moved en masse to a waterfront location in Turku, Finland earlier this month. NEAPO, the company that built and moved the building, is an <a href="http://inhabitat.com/architecture/">architecture</a> and construction company that has roots in the ship building industry, so it's no wonder they are so good at moving large steel objects.

The team that designed and built the building used <a href="http://shippax.net/fixcel">FIXCEL ®</a> steel-frame sensor to construct the movable dream.

FIXCEL is a triple seamed, steel material that was developed especially for use in <a href="http://inhabitat.com/architecture/prefab-housing/">modular construction</a>.

It is extremely strong in both horizontal and vertical building and is also very lightweight, it can be used for walls, floors and roofing, it doesn't need support beams -- even over long distances -- and is non-corrosive.

<a href="http://www.neapo.fi/fi/www/news_show.php?id=959">NEAPO thinks</a> that this new building material could help revolutionize the architecture and construction industry by allowing whole buildings to be built inside and then transferred to their final resting place -- or perhaps transferred many times, to many places.

Building inside allows <a href="http://inhabitat.com/sustainable-building/">construction</a> to continue unfeathered even in poor weather. Removing the building process from nature and putting it indoors could help minimize environmental damage to construction sites.

NEAPO is keeping their eye on mother Earth while revolutionizing the architecture and construction industry, they produce no waste, are powered by wind and use completely recycleable materials. FIXCEL, their material of choice, also has a carbon footprint that is 60% lower than the industry average for comparable products.