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Reconfigurable, Modular Dream Home 182

Posted by timothy from the wonder-what-sort-of-power-supply-it-needs dept.
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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Reconfigurable, Modular Dream Home More

Reconfigurable, Modular Dream Home

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  • Reminds me of my father's friend back in grade school (oh, like 1960's) who had invented furniture that hid behind walls and then could be inflated and unfolded as needed.

    Last I ever heard of it...
    • Reminds me of my father's friend back in grade school (oh, like 1960's) who had invented furniture that hid behind walls and then could be inflated and unfolded as needed.

      And the Ted Bundy model comes with company.

    • Reminds me of my father's friend back in grade school (oh, like 1960's) who had invented furniture that hid behind walls

      For The People Who Live Inside Of Your Walls?

      We're the people inside of your walls,
      We live here inside of your walls
      We're watching you daily with great fascination,
      At night we curl up inside pink insulation,
      We're the people inside of your walls.

      Of course, we're not like average people you know,
      We eat tiny bugs for our dinner
      We're all just as tall as your average joe,
      But why, we'll admit we're much thinner,
      We're the people inside of your walls.

      - The Frantics, "Four On The Floor" TV series, 1986, this song was the source of many childhood nightmares.

      Almost as many nightmares as this [glowingplate.com].

  • Fav Quote (Score:5, Funny)

    by Winnipenguin ( 603571 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @02:51PM (#4158550)
    "You can control your temperature of the flat, you can control lighting," said Donald Hughes with the Hong Kong Housing Society.

    Just imagine ...
    • Holy #*(@# batman! Temperature AND lighting!

      If only the neighborhood kids would quit stealing the bathroom wall I'd be a happy man.

  • walls movable with tools... (Score:5, Funny)

    by shren ( 134692 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @02:52PM (#4158554) Homepage Journal
    Wait a minute. That sounds like a cubicle. 'Cubicle' and 'dream cyber home' do not belong in the same article, ok, guys?
    • I was thinking the exact same thing when I read this. Just add X-10 technology to your cube and you have a "dream cyber home".
    • or try "manufactured" housing. Here today, gone tomorrow. This may be the seeds of the trailer parks of the future.
      • I can see it now. Automatic moving walls. If you're living on the dole, then the longer you live on the dole, the smaller your flat will get.
      • The new gray ranch-style home in one of Lafayette's most expensive areas has many selling points, not the least of which are 10-foot ceilings and granite kitchen countertops.

        It also has a potentially huge detraction: It's a manufactured home.

        Before you cringe, hear the rest of the description: With 2,600 square feet of living space, the house has a killer view of Mount Diablo, yet it's just across from BART and only minutes from downtown. It also has some other amenities such as bay windows, oak cabinets, a whirlpool tub, a large cobblestone patio and even planter shelves.

        An added attraction: It was built in three days and cost about $200,000 less than if it had been built like most other houses.

        ... [sfgate.com]


    • This seems to be an ugly trend in "Modular America"... We change our employers much more often than our parents did; drive plastic vehicles that aren't quite a truck, yet not quite a car; and dare label stuff that comes out of a spray can "cheese".

      When I come home, I want my home to have a solid, permanent feeling. If I wanted cheap and easy, I'd live in a double-wide tornado magnet.

  • Has anyone been able to get CNN video clips, like the one in the story, to work in Mozilla? I'm using 1.0 and all I get is a new little window and then nothing. I've got Real installed, and I think the plugin is installed. What gives?
    • The best thing to do is to uninstall RealVideo and to never ever use it again... even if it means you can't get CNN video.

    • Re:CNN Video Clips (Score:3, Interesting)

      by PD ( 9577 )
      I wrote the webmaster a little note and he responded that the videos cost money and can only be seen by subscribers. I wrote a note back saying that under Mozilla/Linux I don't even see the popup that gives me an option to subscribe, and he never wrote back.

      Talk about clueless. It's the webmaster's job to make sure his site works. It plainly doesn't. The name is cnn.com, not cnnforwindows.com!

      I wrote another note to BMW because their site doesn't work either. I wrote that people who demand the most out of their cars buy BMW, and people who demand the most out of their computers use Linux, and asked him nicely to support Linux. He wrote back and said he'd think about it.
      • We ecountered difficulty in downloads from government agencies at work where the download strings and file names had spaces in them. I would work with IE but not in Netscape. They told us to get an updated version of IE - It wasn't their job to make sure it worked in every "fly by night web browser." It was fixed within a week of our complaint to the purchasing agent.

      • Re:CNN Video Clips (Score:3, Insightful)

        by donutello ( 88309 )
        The name is cnn.com, not cnnforwindows.com!

        Ironic, that this is the same company [aoltimewarner.com] that owns Netscape.

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @02:55PM (#4158574)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Wasteful? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MaxVlast ( 103795 )
      Does this remind anyone of the old houses of the future? I have a robot book from the early '80s with this strange modular, domed modules that were supposed to be the computer-controlled home of the future. Now that it is the future (as far as I can tell,) I'd like to know what's substantially different about this idea compared to homes of the future twenty years ago.

      Though I do like the name (the Integer Group.)

    • Re:Wasteful? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Ian Bicking ( 980 )
      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).

  • Does it use x-10 wireless cameras? :)))
  • "Housing in Hong Kong is notorious for being badly planned and oblivious to environmental concerns"

    Do you think maybe, just maybe this might be a little overkill for the problem they are trying to solve?

  • does the dining room table have a built in ethernet hub?

  • The hell w/ Hong Kong (Score:3, Funny)

    by Lord Omlette ( 124579 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @02:59PM (#4158598) Homepage
    When do we get this here? (NJ/US)

  • Pfeh.... (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Big Whoop.

    This Old House did a show on modular housing in Japan, exact same thing. Only TOH did it years ago, and its been going on in Japan for years upon years. Each room is a module, you can move interior walls around easily, etc, etc.

    PS: I live by X10 remotes.....

  • What's in a name... (Score:4, Funny)

    by McCart42 ( 207315 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @02:59PM (#4158602) Homepage
    I dunno...I wouldn't want to buy a house designed by a company with a name like "The Integer Group"...sounds limiting.

  • Modular Dream Home? (Score:4, Funny)

    by paladin_tom ( 533027 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:00PM (#4158606) Homepage

    How is that possible?

    I thought the web browser was an inseparable part of the home.

  • The Cube II: Ubiquitous Cube (Score:3, Informative)

    by jukal ( 523582 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:00PM (#4158611) Journal
    To me, that does not sound like a dream home, it sounds more like Ubiquitous [ubiq.com] version of the dream house featured in the movie Cube [cubethemovie.com].
  • But what I really want to know is does it have a dispenser to dispense a cup with spongy jelly [slashdot.org]

  • Locked in by a blackout? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Ra5pu7in ( 603513 ) <ra5pu7in@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:02PM (#4158618) Journal
    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.
    • As someone who currently lives in a house with electric locks on all doors it still works fine in a california blackout. Here are our basic design criteria:

      * All doors that don't need to open in an emergency are fail secure. This means that with extended power loss or critical failure the doors stay locked.

      * All doors that must allow egress during an emergency or critical failure should release bolts under failure (fail safe) and allow the door strike to function like a normal door (latch the unlatched strike). This unbolts the door, but also causes the standard positive latch to fall into the strike. This provides a secure door with manual egress

      * garage door won't function anyway.

      We have batteries that keep each door alive for about 2 hours. The front door has enough battery for about 6hrs. After that entry becomes a bit more complicated. After critical failure or extended blackout, entry requires a physical key in the one door that has a keyed knob. That door's bolts are fail safe so it should be unbolted, but key-latched if the system fails.

      Normal entry is via proximity access control with a standard HID card.

      Securitron Unlatch for electric strike control
      http://www.securitron.com/SubCat.asp?Cata goryID=4

      SDC Electric Bolts
      http://www.sdcsecurity.com/newsite/html/pro ducts/e lectricbl.html

      HID Access control
      http://www.hidcorp.com/
  • What if all of the devices ran MS software? Your light switches, toaster, faucet, and could automatically call home [microsoft.com] and download the latest secutiy patches (complete with their newly-revised EULAs). Now MS would not only know what movies and music you enjoy, but also how often you use your microwave and toilet!

    (That was a joke.)

  • Cameras and lights are controllable online (Score:3, Informative)

    by lute3 ( 72400 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:02PM (#4158625) Homepage Journal
    If these systems are so integrated, could there be structural or functional implications for being Slashdotted?

    "You can control the Integer house.." - link [echelon.co.uk]
    Cameras (evidently dark right now in Hong Kong) - link [integerproject.co.uk]

    I wish I could read more about the thing, but the pages aren't loading and it looks like we're going to burn it down!

  • ...that no home is complete without the talking Beauty Toilet (pronounced "BJUUUTI TOILEEET"),
    which provides you with a completely automated, FuzzyLogic(tm) bathroom experience.
  • My dream home would be 200 years old with slate roof and 5 fireplaces.

  • living conditions (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sstory ( 538486 )
    Wouldn't it be interesting to see NYC, Hong Kong, etc, mandate 100% polymer construction for non-load-bearing elements, and concrete/steel for the rest? think about it--NO BUGS. I COULD FINALLY MOVE TO NYC!!!!!!!!! :-)

    seriously, there's no way you can live in a place where you get home and encounter a swarm of flying bugs in your kitchen. jesus christ.

  • Read "Your Engineered House". . . (Score:3, Informative)

    by kfg ( 145172 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:07PM (#4158662)
    by Rex Roberts. Published by M.Evans, 1964.

    You'll never look at houses the same and his interior walls don't even necessarily need tools to move. Heck some of them aren't even technically walls although a stranger couldn't even tell.

    This book should be required reading for anyone intending to build a house, especially architects.

    KFG
  • this reminds me of the Towers of Utopia by Mack Reynolds. A massive apartment building where layouts were completely configurable. It also had automatic room service that included alcohol!

  • YAN logical nerd idea that repells chicks (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:07PM (#4158664) Journal
    I have long dreamed of this becomming widely available and accepted.

    However, in talking about it among friends and collegues, I realized that most women will *not like it*.

    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*.

    And we all know that:

    Status_Symbol != Convenience
    • You mean the same girls who all try to look like one particular pop music star, or one of the two main female characters from "Friends"?

      Bah, to hell with them... gimmie my LEGO house now dammit!

    • Have you been to and growing city like Boulder, Phoenix or Los Angelis receantly? There are thousands upon thousands of "cookie cutter" homes that have sprung up. Whole neighbourhoods where all the houses are designed fomr the exact same blueprint. Not only are they all "same-same", but you can't reconfigure them without some major tools. Based on the rate they are being built, I'm guessing they sell pretty well, and it's families I see living there, not single geeks.
    • are you kidding? now the can re-arange the walls.
    • 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...
    • Might as well complain that everyone uses light switches to control their lights...
  • Leave it to the Brits to get absorbed in fancy pants cubicle construction for a country on the other side of the world.

    Tally Ho! Let's see some effort put forth towards improving British food. How about inventing a device that can eliminate unwanted blood pudding or dry bagettes?

    That CNN article is as devoid of details as British food is of flavor.
  • Well, maybe he's not, but reconfigurable housing (as an idea) has been around a while, and no doubt the Dymaxion house was a great example! Forget that half-day crap, you could unlock the wall and turn it around the center-post!

    http://www.hfmgv.org/dymaxion

    http://www.thirteen.org/bucky/house.html

  • Right after the demo for the press, hax0rs using the SmartHouseDIE exploit caused the walls to turn blue and fall down. Several reporters were killed. BSOD.
  • I'll huff, I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down!

  • Dont tell the wife (Score:5, Funny)

    by MrWinkey ( 454317 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:11PM (#4158687) Homepage
    Ack! Dont tell my wife! She will want that! I can see it now....

    Honey can you move this wall over here? Then that wall over there and then this over there?

    Later that week...

    Honey can you move that wall back over there? Maybe this wall over here?

    I can already hear my own screams.....
    • Putting aside the fact that you're making a joke, why can't your wife to do her own heavy lifting? Unless she's injured, that's extremely pathetic.

      • Re:Dont tell the wife (Score:4, Funny)

        by Alsee ( 515537 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @04:09PM (#4159102) Homepage
        why can't your wife to do her own heavy lifting? Unless she's injured, that's extremely pathetic.

        That's covered by paragaph 6 section C of the unwritten contract. Amongst other things, she never has to screw in a lightbulb or do any heavy lifting. Paragraph 6 section D says she doesn't ask me to vacuum or do the laundry.

        -
        • Paragraph 6 section D says she doesn't ask me to vacuum or do the laundry.

          But if the floor isn't spotless and the clothes clean and dry when she gets home from work, there's hell to pay. Obviously, I need to work more on my telepathic skillz. I've got the telepathetic bit down pat, though. ;-)

        • Don't forget paragraph 112, section A, covering the killing of spiders, and disposal of dead rodents caught in traps.
    • If it was truly modular, then you can simply purchase sub-walls that make up the walls, IOW bricks, and then tell her to "move the damned wall yourself, you fat lazy cow".

      Of course, then you will be wearing the wall for a while.

    • The past two posts are proof that most Slashdotters have never talked to a real woman, instead gaining all their knowledge of the mysterious opposite sex from 1940's radio sitcoms.

      Come on, fellas. Question those outdated ideas about gender roles.
      • poot_rootbeer wrote:
        "The past two posts are proof that most Slashdotters have never talked to a real woman, instead gaining all their knowledge of the mysterious opposite sex from 1940's radio sitcoms."

        I replied:
        And your post is proof that you've never talked to a real woman either. Just read lots of militant feminist propaganda from the 1970's. Get a clue - not all women want to be a CEO and spank and whip their boytoys.
        I agree with the feminists that women should not be forced into the traditional submissive mold. But on the other hand, a lot more women than you'd think don't want it the other way either. And the feminist viewpoint that these women are all sick or the subject of abuse, or incorrect child-rearing is just as much bullshit as the propaganda the rightwingers spout that all women are inferior and need to be housewifes.
        My point is, some do - some do not. Don't force either to be something they're not.
  • The only thing with more bizarre fads than cheap, efficient housing is perpetual motion machines.

    Take a look at Xanadu [now.net] and Monolithic Domes [monolithicdome.com]. You can build houses from bales of hay, chunks of sod, or into hillsides.

    Most new housing concepts don't take off. One that unfortunately has is the trend of making houses out of cheap, pressed lumber and using shoddy fixtures. I don't like feeling like I can't lean on a wall or slam a door in many modern homes. Even homes costing USD$300K+ are built with flimsy parts now. I can't imagine how much worse it would feel living in an overgrown cubicle.

  • Red Flags (Score:5, Funny)

    by American AC in Paris ( 230456 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:15PM (#4158712) Homepage
    Ugh. Cyber dream home, indeed. More like (in my best world-expo style announcer voice) "House...of the future!"

    First off: they're using a stylus for the main control panels? Does the designer of this brilliantly planned system use salad tongs to throw light switches in his current house or something?

    "You can control your temperature of the flat, you can control lighting..."

    Hey, they're onto something here! A method for controlling lighting--patent it while it's hot, lads! And controlling the temperature of one's flat? Sheer brilliance! Can I do all of this with the same stylus, as well??

    "If you have a party, and want to control your music sound, you would basically be able to press [a few central] switches instead of walking around the whole flat."

    Well hell, looks like I should have held off on buying that "Walk around my whole flat" stereo control system. Of course, I still get a good workout when setting the equalizer...

    "The Internet fridge"

    I stopped reading the article right here. Anything that talks about the Internet Fridge is doomed to failure. It's like the Goodwin's Law for overuse of technology.

  • Sure you can move the interior walls around, but you can't add any additional living area. Need a new room for those adorable additions to your family? Sure, but that means you will have a smaller living room/master bedroom/etc.

    Sure the circular layout means less building materials needed to enclose a given living area, but it plays pure heck with the idea of putting em close together (think townhomes) - they still need a large footprint to sit on.

    Also, given that they are trying to sell this as an answer in an area that needs high population density, how does that silly spire (antenna?)on top work when you want to stack them vertically?

    I imagine the Integer Group ran across one of those websites extolling the advantages of geodesic domes and decided it was time to update the design because they have computers and lost of wizzy gadgets.
  • Sounds very slick - Automated bathroom tools would be great!

  • Look Daddy, Big Legos! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:19PM (#4158735) Journal

    You come back from the store to discover that your kids remade the house into a giant giraffe.

  • insmod plumbing.o (Score:3, Funny)

    by Ilan Volow ( 539597 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:23PM (#4158753) Homepage
    You probably have to patch your home and rebuild it before you can install that bidet module. I don't think many consumers would go for that.

  • .. like crown molding? I guess if you're into that, but I can't imagine the walls looking anything but like an office building.

    Not to mention I wouldn't want to give my wife the option of changing the size of the rooms; rearranging the furniture is enough of a hassle

  • On the side of waste (Score:3, Insightful)

    by lingqi ( 577227 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:33PM (#4158805) Journal
    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

  • We already have this in the US... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by UserChrisCanter4 ( 464072 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:34PM (#4158811)
    it's called Manufactured Housing, although most people know them by their slang name, Trailer Homes.

    Seriously.

    You can get Single, Double, and Triple-wide manufactured homes, and I've even seen two story setups (I used to pass a ton of these "dealerships" on my way to college each day). The basic concept is not unique, but it also isn't stupid: I seem to recall a number being quoted as about 1/3 the cost to assemble as a "custom" home (which makes sense, as these are essentially produced on an assembly line). Take modular pieces, assemble together, call it a day. No different than cubicles or the Habitrails you built for your hamster as a kid.

    Is it a bad idea? I would say not at all. No one smirks at the build quality or luxury of a Mercedes Benz or BMW, but they're just as assembly line built as, say, a Kia (or Yugo or whatever). Assuming modular housing could succesfully target itself at the lower-end of the new home market, people would get a lot more house (and in a lot of cases, a better built house) than they do from the "custom" market (custom in quotations because that market is essentially nothing but cookie-cutter tract homes where housewives get to feel important because they paid $500 extra to change the color of the walls in the living room).

    Stop and think about it: In Houston, which has probably the cheapest real-estate market of any major city, $100,000 gets you a stripped-down ~2,200 sq. ft. house about 30 miles from downtown. No fancy garden bathtub/jacuuzi, no structured wiring system for a house-wide network, no faux marble countertops, and shitty carpet with shitty padding. That same $100,000 could go a hell of a long way on modular housing. It needn't be a trailer home dumped on a slab; a simple arrangement of modular wall pieces available in multiple sizes and completely assembled using steel, insulation, and wallboard would be, as far as I'm concerned, just as good as one pieced together from raw materials by 6 guys who know what the hell they're doing and 40 guys who were picked up from the immigrant labor force at the 7-11 that morning.

    I once worked for a subcontractor, and I needed to run some wiring through a colum that was in the kitchen area. Knowing that the wiring I was running was quite large, and would require a 3/4" hole in a 1 1/2" piece of wood, I asked the construction foreman whether or not the pillar was load-bearing. He replied, "how the hell should I know, ask the guys who made the blueprints" and returned to whatever it was he was doing. I vowed right then never to buy a home made by that particular company.

    I would say that the company that can figure out the proper configuration system and negotiate contracts with the entry-level tract-home builders would be a profitable company indeed.
    • One thing that would have to be overcome before you could hit mainstream: Trailers tend to decrease in value over time, unlike tradtional homes. The only reason people accept 100,000+ debt slavery is because some slick real estate agent sells them on the fact that it's an investment.
      • Well, not technically.

        Houses tend to retain their value, and essentially increase an incremental amount with the cost of living. It is a reasonable investment, and most people can expect a return somewhat similar to what they might get with a good CD or Savings Bond. This, of course, assumes that property values in their area don't swing wildly in any direction. Again with Houston (can you guess where I used to live), there was a booming market in the Richmond area of buying up the tract homes that had been there since the early 50's, knocking them down, and buidling two 3 or 4 story homes in their place. Many people saw the value of their homes shoot from $70,000 to $150,000 in less than a year. On a completely different line, between Hurricane Allison last year and this year's mid-spring floods, the 100-year-flood plain was completely withdrawn. Guess what happens to your property's value when you got drawn into it?

        I'm not suggesting a fab system along the lines of trailer homes, where the whole place is already built. If a manufacturing company were to produce a variety of pre-built walls in varying heights (vaulted for the living room, standard-sized for hallways, ancillary bedrooms, etc. 1/3-sized for a bar) and builders were to design their cookie-cutter designs based on those available sizes, it would streamline the hell out of the whole process. Truck out x number of part A01, and Y number of part B02, provide a system so that certain walls can provide easy access for the electrician/plumber/HVAC/etc. (maybe part A01r has a removable face), and then just put the house together. It would still be built on a foundation and would be indistinguishable from the normal tract-home setup where the only major variance is the type of decorative lights, the color of the carpets, and the paint on the walls.

  • with tools. You just need big tools. :)

  • And in other news...

    This one guy and his soon-to-be-famous company from somewhere on Earth developed and created this thing that can do some really cool technical stuff.

  • Relevant Reading: "How Buildings Learn" (Score:3, Interesting)

    by StefanJ ( 88986 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @03:42PM (#4158855) Homepage Journal
    Thirty or so years after he was a Bucky Fuller memoid hyping geodesic domes, Stewart Brand wrote an amazing book looking at how people actually use buildings:


    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/01 40 139966/


    (Uh, remove the space in the above link. The comment editor won't let me put in a continuous URL. Sorry . . .)


    How Buildings Learn is amazing. Fun to read, persuasive, and rousing. It looks at building designs that work (e.g., MIT's ugly, rambling wooden lab and office structure, Building 20) and those that don't (e.g., MIT's Media Lab building, very modern and all but not given to easy adaption.


    Stefan

  • Pipe Dream (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Ever live in a mobile home, or a pre-constructed modular home? These are the same things, only made with movable walls (which inevitably will not be fastened down correctly).

    You'll deal with wonders of sound transmission through 3/4 inch walls. "Listen to me piss into the toilet from across the house."

    Multiple levels? "Listen to the cat piss on rug upstairs"

    Got a leak? Don't bother repairing it, you'll have to replace the whole pre-fab panel.

    These type of homes are an environmental nightmare. There is a reason they depreciate like a car. They are made to be disposed of after x years.

    This is an overhyped, bad idea.
  • Will be in newly constructed apartment houses.

    New buildings constructed with each level left open in a large, empty space (as many office structures are).

    As market forces change with demand and pricing changes, the landlord simply changes the number and size of the units.

    A housing shortage happens? I'm sorry Mr. Tennent, but we're going to be knocking 100 sq.ft. off your apartment to make room for an additional unit on your floor.

    There is a surplus? Mr. Tennent, We don't wish to lower your rent, but to keep you here, we will offer you an additional 100 sq.ft. of living space for the same space.

    (Though somehow I suspect the former will happen more often the the latter).

  • People have been pushing modular homes for decades. Not as whiz-bang with the touch pads as these, but these models will end up like all those before it - unsellable junk or mobile-home park fodder.

  • How this really happened (Score:4, Funny)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @04:22PM (#4159229) Homepage
    "I know how we can make some extra money".

    "How"?

    "You know all those unsold floor-to-ceiling movable office partititions we have in the warehouse?"

    "Yeah, and we've got another ten acres worth coming back from the WorldCom bankruptcy. Nobody's fitting out office space right now. What do you want to do with them?"

    "Let's team with a builder to build house shells and use the partitions as interior walls in homes. It'll be cheaper than regular construction. And homeowners will be able to reconfigure; add a bedroom for a new kid, open it up when the kids leave.

    "That will never fly; house buyers are too traditional".

    "Maybe if we had a sales gimmick... Let's call it a "modular cyber house".

    "What's "cyber" about office partitions?"

    "We'll throw in a home control system. We've got lots of commercial building automation parts in the warehouse too."

    "Well, maybe. But we need a design for a house. Just a big shell, but modern-looking".

    "Just build a big round roof, and frame it with stock glass and metal exterior panels. That'll be cheap to build. It'll look like those old '50s designs from that Fuller guy. And prices are really low on exterior panels right now."

    "This could work out. Let's draw up some renderings of what it would look like and get some press. Even if it doesn't work out, maybe we can do a bulk sell on the partitions to some homebuilder."

  • 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!)

  • Doesn't help sell (Score:4, Interesting)

    by asv108 ( 141455 ) <asvNO@SPAMivoss.com> on Wednesday August 28, 2002 @05:22PM (#4159676) Homepage Journal
    The problem with any of this futuristic crap is its obsolete in a few years or even months so it doesn't do anyything to increase the value you your home. The only house tech that makes sense is to wire each room with cat-5, have nice appliances, and a good heating and cooling system.

    Its funny to look at houses that were built in the 80's and see integrated gadgets like intercom system, central-vac, and B&W security cameras that probably cost a fortune back then yet do nothing for their sale price today.

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