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Future buildings

March 2002

Housing will change slowly, lagging far behind technology capability. New homes today still come with just 5 or 6 electrical sockets in the living room, though there may be as many as 30 devices needing power. The building industry seems very slow to react to the demands of new technology. Existing houses will stand for many years, so we can't expect rapid change here.

Prefabricated buildings are expected by architectural futurists to make a strong comeback in the USA and possibly in Europe too. Prefabricated modules can be assembled to make a wide variety of home designs, making high specification homes at a much lower cost. It is simply easier to make the complex structures required in factories than on a building site. These modules may make good use of smart materials. Panels may change their thermal properties and even rigidity according to the weather, and may have sensors built in to monitor stress and strain. These materials may be more wind proof and even more resistant to earthquakes. We may see anti-noise technology built in to the panels to provide a quieter interior. Some panels may incorporate solar cells. Window panels may use holographic embossing to deflect sunlight to the whole room. Others may have panels that act can switch electronically between windows and screens. Colour change materials may be used externally for thermal adjustment and internally to react to the mood of the inhabitants. Such effects could eventually be linked into digital TV or be used to create the right atmosphere for a party. Electronic wallpaper need not be fixed in pattern or colour but may be variable, albeit more expensively.

Far in the future, this electronic wallpaper may evolve into fully functional displays that can be used to make a dining room into a medieval banquet hall for the evening, or to take part in a virtual conference. People could teletravel using a large screen in their living room or maybe from a small box room with fully lines walls, ceiling and floor, analogous to the Star Trek holodeck.

One important feature that will eventually make it into homes is the domestic LAN, linking appliances together and providing an interface to the outside world. This could be based on existing electrical wiring or could be wireless, using radio or infrared technology. Appliances in the near future will have a great deal of communications and computing capability and they will need access to such networks to do their job effectively. For instance, we could imagine a future washing machine that interrogates the chips in the clothes, reads the identifiers in the washing powder, then decides on a suitable wash by talking to the various manufacturers' computers. It then switches itself on when the Electricity Company has agreed it will get the cheapest rate. A smart door lock may be much cheaper than a complex key based lock. A domestic iris scan unit could end the trauma of losing a set of house keys. When the occupier is at work, a video intercom would allow conversation with the plumber calling at the front door, enable access and allow monitoring during the job. Chips-with-everything. Domestic robots will also make good use of the LAN to stay in touch with each other.

We will also need LANs for in-home data and video distribution. It is unlikely that there will be only one computer in the home, and yet all may need access to the same data, and may want to feed images to any display. Perhaps a single digital TV decoder could feed all the TVs, video recorders, electronic paintings and shopping tablets in the home instead of having to be replicated many times.

There will be many displays, some wall hanging, some standing on works surfaces, and others lying flat on tables. A future with just one screen for all functions would result in rapid family breakdown. Personal displays will become essential for domestic harmony. Some may be magazine sized tablets, others might use goggles and headphones. The developing audio technology to position a sound in 3d space will become very useful.

If we get it right, displays will be about the only visible evidence of high technology. There will soon be no need for all the black products we see today. The hi-fi, computing and TV stacks will vanish, replaced by integrated boxes of tricks under the stairs that have audio and video links with every room. Speakers can be flat and hidden in walls or even in the screens, so that sounds come from the same place as the visual source.

Public buildings will change in many of the same structural and cosmetic ways. In public building, screens may be larger due to economy of scale, and it will be more economically feasible to justify high capability entertainment zones. Voice interfaces may often be less appropriate due to crowd noise and only a few people would be authorised for control purposes in any case. Tall buildings will make more use of smart and reactive materials than will homes and it may also be more feasible to include the latest weather responsive and energy efficient mechanisms. Security robots may be much more commonplace, looking for fires and intruders, and there will be much more video surveillance. In short, we will see many of the same changes as the home, but probably rather earlier.

Public buildings may work well with new transportation, allowing people to travel to and fro in relative ease and popular locations would make ideal sites for transport nodes.

One of the most important changes we will see with many public buildings is their networking. Obviously they will have LANs, but additionally they will have extensive links to the outside world, allowing people to visit from afar, and perhaps allowing people in the building to see and communicate with some of these visitors. There may be extensive links with other public buildings, which may be represented by virtual buildings. It will be possible to add a virtual gallery or two by use of large screens, which could show works actually on display in a distant gallery. Social zones such as coffee bars, cafes and pubs could include virtual meeting places where distant friends may be included in the socialising with those physically present. Such cyber-socialising could be very dependent on fashion. The difference between sad and cool is not technological. Investments in such areas must be risky at best. Meeting new friends electronically may be equally possible, using smart badges or internet agents, but again is equally vulnerable to scorn.

Artificial intelligence that replaces some people may still be represented by friendly faces on screens. Even the bank's cash machine may well get a face, or many depending on the type of customer.