Designing The House Of The Future

The University of Nottingham (UK), in conjunction with David Wilson Homes, are busy designing the house of the future.  But not through theory, from practice: A family of 4 have volunteered to spend time in a purpose built house having their every move tracked by RFID sensors during certain parts of the stay. 

This approach allows the researchers to understand where the favourite parts of the house are and how usage changes over time as a family gets used to the house.  They also subject the family guests to the tracking, to work out where social gatherings congregate. One outcome will be whether buyer-pleasing features - high ceilings, hot tubs etc - actually drive real usage everyday.  The results won;t be published until February, but the volunteer family have their own conclusions:

The balcony hot tub tops Nick’s list of favorite features, while Sue’s is the sunken bath facing the TV. The family is already planning to upgrade the showers in their own home with high-pressure water jets — something they’ve gotten accustomed to in the last three months.

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