apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

My house of the future would be made of shipping containers..
It would also have secret passageways and a tube slide coming out from the 2nd floor master bedroom going into the courtyard. You know.. for when you'd rather not take the stairs.
Really though, the mega-corporation collaboration makes me a little skeptic. It also sounds like something I read about Bill Gates' home (I read this 5 years ago?).
The part about the closet reminds me of the intro to "Clueless".

Think it will run on Vista.. or XP?

2 BR / 5000 Sq Feet for a family of 4?

"Countertops will be able to identify groceries set on them and make menu suggestions."

"Mirrors and closets could identify clothes and suggest matching outfits, complementary colors or track what apparel is at the cleaners or in the wash."

That isn't a House of Tomorrow - that's a House for Wasteful and Lazy Morons.

"wastefulness and laziness"... sounds like business as usual for Monsanto

Didn't we mock this already? I like Mod Mom, but the first picture looks like Rod Sterling is about to enter and the architect looks like he was inspired by Peter Peter Pumpkin eater, He put her in a plastic shell....

All you need to do is add conveyor belts and a sass-talking robot maid, and you've got... the Jetsons.

The real House of Tomorrow will look like a comfortable, stylish home, not a space station. However, it will have built into it a network for your electronics (including lights, security system, controlling the water system, and so on). You'll be able to set up a "theme" such as "winter"--the outside faucets will be shut off to prevent freezing, the thermostat will keep the house at pre-set temperatures according to day and time, and so on. Energy saving features will of course also be built in. I agree that remotes will be available to control all kinds of things, but I don't agree that they will happen automatically--you will set up a "theme" for movie watching maybe but you will turn it on and off.

Another idea that I love is repositionable walls. You start with a house that has two big bedrooms. The kids want their own rooms, you set up a wall and they have their rooms. Or you have an open floor plan like a loft, and the next owner can have traditional rooms.

I think heating and cooling will be radically different when it's planned into a home along with energy saving in mind. I like the idea of radiant floors for instance.

It's going to be great.

Oh, and there will be space-saving ideas as well. How about a dining room table that moves down into the floor to be either flush, or up a little to be a platform? When you need it for a formal dinner you raise it up. Flexibility will be a watchword for the House of Tomorrow.

Repositionable walls should be relatively easy -- you just need a narrow enough structure that the interior walls aren't required to hold up the house. Many Victorian rowhouses have no supporting walls inside, which is why you can gut and modernize them readily.

Given widespread concerns over environmental impact, sprawl, peak oil, consumer debt, lack of quality time with family due to commuting (pick your evil! something for everyone!), Disney is being irresponsible in featuring a 5,000-sf house for a family of four. Just 30 years ago (during the last energy crunch), a family of four would have thought 1,500 sf was a "big" house (that was a middle-class 4-BR, 2-BA w/ family room!).

A real "house of the future" is going to be compact, flexible, energy-efficient, and easy to maintain. Start there, Disney, and then give us something thought-provoking!

(The all-electronic home system has been the "house of the future" in shelter publications for at least 40 years, but it's apparently really difficult to get right.)

If you put 11 more stories on top it would look like my co-op