A North-Carolina-based company called Topsider Homes finds octagons the ideal shape for a house. Why? For one, "the shape encloses space more efficiently than its counterpart, the square," the company writes.

The company, which has been in business since the 1960s, writes that they have "created a new genre of building designs by marrying their unique pedestal foundation to an octagonal structure using a post and beam building system." They not only sell plans for octagonal houses that utilize this system, but they also prefabricate the structural components, shipping them out as kits.

Where this has an interesting application is in the area of home additions, which the company also specializes in. "Because many home additions must be added onto sloping terrain on the side or back of the existing structure," they write, "our unique ability to design for any type of foundation can make a big difference. We can build room additions on pilings, pedestals, slabs, crawl-spaces and even basements."

We've looked at the circular house thing before, and I suspect living in one of those would suck. But I'm looking at the floorplans for Topsider's octagonal additions, and they seem pretty livable.

If you want to see how one of these go up, here's a SketchUp-style animation showing one of their designs built on a number of short piers:

More floorplans to check out here.

A hexagonal variation of the Dymaxion House perhaps.

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.

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