When we imagine the house of the future, most of us tend to think that as technology changes, the look of the house will change with it. But we are creatures of habit, and we tend to hang onto the things that make us feel "at home." [Plan 454-14, above]
So the house of the future will not look very different from today's homes. However, I believe that much of what that house contains, and what it allows us to do, will be quite different. My predictions fall into three categories.
Design
The house will be smaller in square footage, but it will feel bigger because it is well designed. Think Apple, Tesla, Dyson. When something is carefully thought through, you can get less to do more. It will have sizzle and elegance, rather than volume and acreage. [Plan 454-13, above]
Bigger, that is, doesn't necessarily mean better. When you use your available budget to build the rooms you actually use, you end up with a house that fits, and with very little unused or rarely used space.
The house of the future will have a more informal character. No need for the formal rooms designed for a type of guest that is in short supply today, and almost nonexistent in our future world. Listen to the millennials. They aren't interested in wasted space, or in impressing the neighbors. They want comfort and conviviality with a generous dose of practicality. This generation will constitute a substantial percentage of our future homes' inhabitants. They know what they want, and a McMansion in suburbia is decidedly not it.
What we currently call "aging in place" and "universal design," concepts of architecture that cater to all ages and abilities, will become standard practice in all our structures, as well as in the of our communities. The house of the future will be designed not only for the owner's personal needs today, but also for the long haul.
Coming generations will care deeply about appropriate use of resources—really an issue of good design—and will go to great lengths to ensure that their houses and communities are in sync with this larger vision of long-term health and welfare. So we can expect houses that are less expensive and easier to maintain, though I'm afraid "no maintenance" is still not in the cards. [Plan 454-12, above]
Technology
The spaghetti bundles of wires running through most new homes today will be a thing of the distant past. Everything will be wireless, and all devices, appliances and control systems will talk to each other with ease, which will thankfully make upgrades far less difficult.Lighting will be perhaps the most remarkable change. There's an LED revolution just beginning today that 30 years from now will completely shift how we experience the different rooms and places within our homes.In our future world, whole surfaces will be the light source. You'll be changing the color and light intensity of the walls and ceilings, and maybe even the floors of your home, adjusting them to different presets, in much the same way that high-end lighting systems work today. But unlike some of our present-day control systems, these will not require a Ph.D. to operate. We're hearing a lot of late about "smart homes," but like the Internet in 1995, it hasn't quite caught on yet. Watch out, though. This is one of the big shifts headed our way.
Everything in the home will be connected to the smart-home automation system, to such a degree in fact that the homes of today will be the equivalent of a typewriter, and the house of the future a state-of-the-art computer.Currently we think of the house as a place for living to take place in. Our future house will be a place for accessing the world around us. It will be serving a dramatically different set of functions for us, in addition to the everyday living we do in them now.I'm seeing in-home offices in which one wall is entirely video screen, projecting the world of fellow workers into your office, so you have the experience of working with them, but from the comfort of your own home.
When we imagine the house of the future, most of us tend to think that as technology changes, the look of the house will change with it. But we are creatures of habit, and we tend to hang onto the things that make us feel "at home."
So the house of the future will not look very different from today's homes. However, I believe that much of what that house contains, and what it allows us to do, will be quite different. My predictions fall into three categories.
Similarly, windows can serve multiple functions. Some have built-in photovoltaics (at least on the south side of the house and roof). They can be see-through when the weather's great, or become a projectional surface, allowing you to select from myriad real-time locations. Where would you like to be today—Sydney Harbour, the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal?In fact, this may even become our entertainment, too. Imagine the adrenaline rush of your home perched atop Niagara Falls. Who needs TV when you can experience that?
Construction
We'll select houses we want to build in a different way. We'll use 3-D immersion technology to try on different floor plans, so that we can feel the place before we buy it, much as happens when a for-sale property holds an open-house today, but without all the fellow gawkers getting in your way.
We'll build in a different way, too. Right now, our most expensive purchase is built with the most antiquated process. Imagine if every time you wanted to buy a new car, all the parts were delivered to your driveway, and put together by a local automobile assembler over the ensuing months, weather allowing. That's what's happening currently with our houses. As we've done for centuries, we bring all the materials required to assemble the structure to the site, and build it stick by stick in situ. It's a slow and challenging process, dependent upon Mother Nature and the exigencies of the market.
The house of the future, by contrast, will be built with precision in a factory setting, just like our cars are today, and brought to the site in large panels that can be assembled and completed in less than a week.In the end, what most of us long for is a place that really feels like home, a place that is beautiful and feeds the soul. Using design and technological features already within our grasp, the home of the future has the potential to more closely resemble a cottage in the south of France than a house in suburbia. And that cottage will be your personal portal to everywhere.
To browse all floor plans by Sarah Susanka click here.
So the house of the future will not look very different from today's homes. However, I believe that much of what that house contains, and what it allows us to do, will be quite different. My predictions fall into three categories.
Design
The house will be smaller in square footage, but it will feel bigger because it is well designed. Think Apple, Tesla, Dyson. When something is carefully thought through, you can get less to do more. It will have sizzle and elegance, rather than volume and acreage. [Plan 454-13, above]
Bigger, that is, doesn't necessarily mean better. When you use your available budget to build the rooms you actually use, you end up with a house that fits, and with very little unused or rarely used space.
The house of the future will have a more informal character. No need for the formal rooms designed for a type of guest that is in short supply today, and almost nonexistent in our future world. Listen to the millennials. They aren't interested in wasted space, or in impressing the neighbors. They want comfort and conviviality with a generous dose of practicality. This generation will constitute a substantial percentage of our future homes' inhabitants. They know what they want, and a McMansion in suburbia is decidedly not it.
What we currently call "aging in place" and "universal design," concepts of architecture that cater to all ages and abilities, will become standard practice in all our structures, as well as in the of our communities. The house of the future will be designed not only for the owner's personal needs today, but also for the long haul.
Coming generations will care deeply about appropriate use of resources—really an issue of good design—and will go to great lengths to ensure that their houses and communities are in sync with this larger vision of long-term health and welfare. So we can expect houses that are less expensive and easier to maintain, though I'm afraid "no maintenance" is still not in the cards. [Plan 454-12, above]
Technology
The spaghetti bundles of wires running through most new homes today will be a thing of the distant past. Everything will be wireless, and all devices, appliances and control systems will talk to each other with ease, which will thankfully make upgrades far less difficult.Lighting will be perhaps the most remarkable change. There's an LED revolution just beginning today that 30 years from now will completely shift how we experience the different rooms and places within our homes.In our future world, whole surfaces will be the light source. You'll be changing the color and light intensity of the walls and ceilings, and maybe even the floors of your home, adjusting them to different presets, in much the same way that high-end lighting systems work today. But unlike some of our present-day control systems, these will not require a Ph.D. to operate. We're hearing a lot of late about "smart homes," but like the Internet in 1995, it hasn't quite caught on yet. Watch out, though. This is one of the big shifts headed our way.
Everything in the home will be connected to the smart-home automation system, to such a degree in fact that the homes of today will be the equivalent of a typewriter, and the house of the future a state-of-the-art computer.Currently we think of the house as a place for living to take place in. Our future house will be a place for accessing the world around us. It will be serving a dramatically different set of functions for us, in addition to the everyday living we do in them now.I'm seeing in-home offices in which one wall is entirely video screen, projecting the world of fellow workers into your office, so you have the experience of working with them, but from the comfort of your own home.
When we imagine the house of the future, most of us tend to think that as technology changes, the look of the house will change with it. But we are creatures of habit, and we tend to hang onto the things that make us feel "at home."
So the house of the future will not look very different from today's homes. However, I believe that much of what that house contains, and what it allows us to do, will be quite different. My predictions fall into three categories.
Similarly, windows can serve multiple functions. Some have built-in photovoltaics (at least on the south side of the house and roof). They can be see-through when the weather's great, or become a projectional surface, allowing you to select from myriad real-time locations. Where would you like to be today—Sydney Harbour, the Grand Canyon, the Taj Mahal?In fact, this may even become our entertainment, too. Imagine the adrenaline rush of your home perched atop Niagara Falls. Who needs TV when you can experience that?
Construction
We'll select houses we want to build in a different way. We'll use 3-D immersion technology to try on different floor plans, so that we can feel the place before we buy it, much as happens when a for-sale property holds an open-house today, but without all the fellow gawkers getting in your way.
We'll build in a different way, too. Right now, our most expensive purchase is built with the most antiquated process. Imagine if every time you wanted to buy a new car, all the parts were delivered to your driveway, and put together by a local automobile assembler over the ensuing months, weather allowing. That's what's happening currently with our houses. As we've done for centuries, we bring all the materials required to assemble the structure to the site, and build it stick by stick in situ. It's a slow and challenging process, dependent upon Mother Nature and the exigencies of the market.
The house of the future, by contrast, will be built with precision in a factory setting, just like our cars are today, and brought to the site in large panels that can be assembled and completed in less than a week.In the end, what most of us long for is a place that really feels like home, a place that is beautiful and feeds the soul. Using design and technological features already within our grasp, the home of the future has the potential to more closely resemble a cottage in the south of France than a house in suburbia. And that cottage will be your personal portal to everywhere.
To browse all floor plans by Sarah Susanka click here.
