:: netwoman's blog ::

Future Homes: House N at MIT

Future Now is blogging right up my dissertation-alley.

"I have seen a number of very different future homes over the past five years, constructed by hardware, retail, communications and academic enterprises. Some attempted to be complete, some showed only a narrow peek into what our homes could look like. Each has had its own flavor of emphasis. Many have been wildly optimistic as to what an average consumer could reasonably afford in the next 5 years. The cost of such technologies needs to be carefully thought out. Each was also dated in its content, since you can hardly keep up with accelerating changes, or hope to predict what will survive more than a year.

These homes also point to how technologies need standards to interoperate. Their technologies also must operate with existing (legacy?) service devices in the home. A good example of this is in the kitchen, where we expect our refrigerator to last for 15 years, yet the technologies that link to it will likely evolve over 2-3 years. As a result its been tough for devices llike net-enabled refrigerators. How do you integrate these needs with vastly different cycles of evolution? "


"MIT Changing Places / House_n located here.

Change is accelerating, but the places we create are largely static and unresponsive. House_n is a Department of Architecture research consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that explores how new technologies, materials, and strategies for design can make possible dynamic, evolving places that respond to the complexities of life. Changing Places is a joint Architecture and Media Laboratory Consortium that includes House_n and emphasizes links between the home and places of healing, work, learning, and community...."

posted by Netwoman @ 9:26 PM