Reconfigurable, Modular Dream Home

ssyladin writes: "CNN is reporting a new dream cyber home being designed by the Brits for use in Hong Kong. It combines smart home technologies of touch panels for lights, heating, water taps, with the ability to move the interior wall partitions around with a basic toolbox and about a half day of labor. No more LAN parties in the garage! The homes can also be built faster and with less waste too. Bit skimpy on the details, but its an exciting prospect if its ever finished." Concepts like this probably fill a lot of napkin doodles around the world -- what do you think this particular one should do differently?

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Locked in by a blackout?

[Ra5pu7in]

Being that everything in the house is electronic, what happens in the event of a blackout? Usually the first action is to turn off everything that was on -- but an electronic switch prevents that. How would you get water from the taps (or worse, shut it off)?

I hope the door and window locks aren't electronic, too.

Re:Wasteful?

[Ian Bicking]

They say it generates "30 percent less waste", which I assume means operational power, though it could mean construction waste. Electricity used for automation is trivial compared to things like lights, dishwashers, air conditioners, or hair dryers. We're not talking about a fast CPU in every wall, or a CRTs all over the place. In the image they show a simple B&W LCD input, which would use very little power.

I do wonder about the material cost to produce some of these electronics -- but, honestly, I don't really know what that cost is. My impression is that CRTs are the worst offenders among typical computer parts, but even circuitry is fairly environmentally costly (mostly using large amounts of water to manufacture, and perhaps requiring raw minerals who's mining is environmentally damaging).

On the side of waste

[lingqi]

I am not completely sure about HK, but in Japan, it seems that houses are rarely renovated, as in the US, but much more frequently torn down and rebuilt altogether. Some people blame it on the "bad taste" of the previous owners and their funky designs of the house, and then build some funky design themselves.

Is situations like that -- when the interior can be EASILY re-configured, you bet it would be much more efficient. It would also have the added advantage of being able to just create a room for, say a baby.

I mean, the alternatives are shoddy at best: most interior partitions people built themselves are not exactly fire-code compliant; and have people come in and actually do professional work costs a CHUNK of cash. have ceiling-high configuable walls would be a dream! i am just worried about the wall strength (kids running into them), acoustic damping (sex in the next room), and plumbing (probabbly harder to wire than electrical, no?)...

otherwise I am all for it.

p.s. there has always been talks of "modular apartments" and the such. I am really kind of disappointed that they havn't show up more often. but this is a good direction

Re:YAN logical nerd idea that repells chicks

[Shant3030]

It is too clinical and "same-same". Girls want something that makes them feel "special". If everyone has the same panels and boxes, then it will become a status symbol to have something *different*.

False. Most woman are conformists. They dont like to step out of the box because they hate being the criticized for being different. Why do you think eating disorders are so common among woman? Because they hate looking differently from the the models they see on TV or magazines. They are bombarded with the message that thats how woman should look like and anything other than that is appalling.

I dont know of many women that dislike technology because everyone has it...
Most woman will not like it because its not feminine. Why do you think tech and science majors (comp sci, bio, physics, engineering....) are filled with mostly men? Do you ever see women sitting around the TV playing XBox? No. Women just arent into that stuff... Thats the main reason, not from a fear of being different...

This idea hasn't worked for universities

[dmwst30]

Posvar Hall [ http://www.umc.pitt.edu/tour/tour-040.html ] (formerly Forbes Quad) at the University of Pittsburgh has just such "reconfigurable" floor plans, with moveable walls. It was originally designed in the 1970s so that rooms could be made and adjusted to fit the current needs of the university. Never were these walls moved once during my four years there (1997-2001).
Also, this building is legendary for having under 30% usable floor space due in part to the idea that the movable walls would increase the utility of the remaining space!)

Re:CNN Video Clips

[donutello]

The name is cnn.com, not cnnforwindows.com!

Ironic, that this is the same company that owns Netscape.