Think ‘The Jetsons’ meet LEGOs: How a team of Virginia Tech researchers is revolutionizing housing

What if you could build a first-rate, high-tech home more efficiently, affordably, and sustainably, using a process borrowed from the manufacturing industry?

A Virginia Tech faculty-student team explores that concept in FutureHAUS, a futuristic prototype for smart, sustainable housing, on display Jan. 10-12 at KBIS, the world’s leading kitchen and bath expo.

Think “The Jetsons” meet LEGOs. With an innovative cartridge-style building process and high-tech toys, FutureHAUS reinvents housing construction – and simultaneously tackles challenges of integrated technology, intergenerational needs, smart use of smaller spaces, sustainability, and affordability. The concept home also showcases cutting-edge products and expertise from over 25 industry partners, including California Closets, DuPont, and Häfele.

Visit Booth S5880 to experience the latest FutureHAUS phase, the Bedroom and Home Office of the Future. Highlights include:

• Flex space. Downsize your home, but still have all the space you need. Adapt rooms for different space needs and functions by simply moving walls and furnishings.
• Smart closet and wardrobe. Never lose a sock again. Use a smart mirror touchscreen to scan and select clothes (enhanced with RFID sensors) and have them delivered on demand.
• Mixed-reality home office. A telecommuter’s dream, blending cutting-edge virtual reality and interactive technology with the real world for maximum work efficiency.
• Bedroom. An overhead multimedia screen canopy and voice- and gesture-activated adjustable bed and room controls make the bedroom a sanctuary for sleep or entertainment.
• Audiovisual wall. A shared wall between the office and living room spins 180-degrees to serve multiple functions. It’s a speaker, television, computer screen, videoconferencing monitor, dry-erase board, or decorative art wall.
• Smart window wall. A high-performance exterior wall makes intuitive adjustments for energy efficiency and interior comfort. Featuring tintable glass, phase-change technology, and a rainscreen, the smart window wall automatically regulates shading, privacy, and insulation.
• Laundry room. Conveniently accessed from both rooms, the laundry room tucks away to minimize noise and clutter.
• Cartridge construction. With its revolutionary cartridge building style, Virginia Tech prefabricates plug-and-play home components like kitchens, bathrooms, and audiovisual walls in a factory setting for easy assembly at the construction site. This creates a controlled environment to integrate and test advanced technologies, electrical, plumbing, and other complex home systems – resulting in a more cost- and time-effective, safe, sustainable building process.

More information:
www.futurehaus.tech
FutureHAUS Press Kit
Downloadable rendering of FutureHAUS bedroom and home office
Photo of FutureHAUS team
Facebook: Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Twitter: @VTCAUS, #vtfuturehaus

Previous FutureHAUS coverage:
USA Today: College students dream up kitchen of the future, July 20, 2015
Wall Street Journal: Home automation comes of age, Feb. 17, 2015
Architect: A mirror into the future of the bathroom, Feb. 14, 2016
Chicago Tribune: Wired toilets and other reasons to design a high-tech bathroom, Sept. 13, 2016
Virginia Tech Magazine: Here today, home tomorrow, Summer 2016

MEDIA CONTACT:
Marya Barlow
805-760-8646 (mobile)
mbarlow@vt.edu
Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies

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