IKEA’s “Home of Tomorrow” Is Packed Full of Plants and Sustainable Solutions
Though pop culture has told us the “home of the future” will look like something out of “The Jetsons,” complete with holograms, touch screens, and sterile, white surfaces, IKEA thinks that future homes are going to be much more green than forward-thinkers originally planned. The easy-to-assemble furniture company created a model living space called “Home of Tomorrow” to educate people on how to cohabitate with nature when the majority of Earth’s population will be living in cities.
IKEA-conducted research shows that 70 percent of the global population will be living in cities come 2050, which is a big red flag for those concerned with global warming and climate change. IKEA’s “Home of Tomorrow” is an example of how city dwellers, both present and future, can bring green solutions into the home in order to leave the world better than how they found it.
Per Designboom, these solutions address excessive waste, depletion of natural resources, droughts, food price gouging, and the need for healthier living spaces.
To build their model future home, IKEA took over an abandoned building in Szczecin, Poland and based most of their solutions around the soil-free home garden, which uses the water-saving methods of aquaponics, hydroponics and aeroponics, to grow veggies, fruits, herbs, and even some species of fungi.
Visitors of “Home of Tomorrow” will learn how to make meals with these home-grown veggies, and also how to process the waste from their food prep—all of which is put into composters and other trash receptacles that result in bio material used in other parts of the home.
Those behind “Home of Tomorrow” are encouraging those who are interested to get involved in designing more solutions to put inside the model. Small teams are assembled and asked to collaborate via an online forum to design waste-management solutions that are accessible, simple to use, and address real problems at hand.
“We wish to encourage the residents of Szczecin to take responsibility for waste,” IKEA’s Gustaw Jakubowski, who helped breathe life into “Home of Tomorrow” told Designboom. “I believe that only by starting to vote with our wallets for environment-friendly solutions, we will create a substantive step towards sustainable life.”
Head over to the “Home of Tomorrow” portal to learn more about the project and how IKEA is helping to form the future of sustainable housing.