How will we be cooking, cleaning and washing in the future? Senior Industrial Designer Adam Szczepanowski gives an insight at the Grand Designs Live Home of the Future Seminar in the UK.
Electrolux Senior Industrial Designer Adam Szczepanowski was a key speaker at the Grand Designs Live Home of the Future Seminar in London, UK.
Szczepanowski spoke to over 500 consumers on what the home of the future has in store for us. Max Fraser, Seminar Curator at Grand Designs Live said, “His input met just the right balance between reality and tangible visions for the future and was delivered with the right tone for the consumer audience. Ultimately, we wanted to inspire the audience and this was fulfilled perfectly.”
Adam offered ‘Ten Safe Bets’ for the home of the future:
1. Your home will collect its own energy.
When you consider that 10% of energy is lost during transmission to your home from the power station it’s not a bad idea. We’ve seen lots of projects globally for small scale energy production. For example, last year 50,000 domestic geothermal wells were sunk in Sweden alone. Wind turbines, air heat pumps, solar water heating and solar electricity generation….it’s going to become everyday stuff
2. A new level of energy smart appliances.
We’ve been making good progress, with a massive difference between the energy consumed in 1990 and today. By replacing appliances that are more than 10 years old, we could cut CO2 emissions by some 22 million tonnes per year in Europe. Energy taxation and home energy production will push for quantum leaps in energy efficiency.
3. London Fresh.
In the future, air conditioners and purifiers will come together and evolve to give the right temperature, humidity – the right feel to the air in your house, removing allergens and odors…it will be possible to wake up in London but feel you are in the heart of a Norwegian fjord.
4. You will always find me in the kitchen at parties.
In the future, it will be the norm to ‘live’ in the kitchen – the kitchen, living and dining area will fuse into one zone …which means: even quieter appliances, even greater focus on esthetics, fans to remove unpleasant smells and enhance the nice ones, entertainment fridges…the list goes on.
5. Washing machine with a sense of smell?
The washing machines of the future will sniff out any stain and take care of it. Across all appliances – problems will be solved without you even knowing about it. Technology will become more ‘human, softer, invisible’.
6. Future of cooking.
The Electrolux Inspiro is the start of how ovens will be in the near future: advanced sensors weighing the dish, setting temperatures and cooking modes to give you the perfect result every time! Looking ahead, possibilities include future ovens networking to food retailers where package are scanned and the perfect cooking settings downloaded.
7. A mirage in the Sahara, basking in the Florida sunshine or listening to the sound of the waves.
The home spa will evolve to include true air conditioning to change the feel of the air – humidity, temperature and taste – adding an audio visual experience and, ultimately, allowing you to recreate your dream location in the bathroom.
8. Any color so long as it’s………my color!!
Mass customization is approaching. Send your own print, pattern or color to manufacturers and it will be produced on the scratch-free surface of your fridge, TV or whatever.
9. Wash your clothes once a month.
Do our clothes really get dirty? Or is it just that we want to freshen them up and straighten the wrinkles? In the future we could be hanging our clothes back in the wardrobe, shutting the door while a robot zips around to sense which clothes need refreshing in the wardrobe’s refresher unit.
10. The robots are coming!
The easiest way of doing something is to have someone else do it for you.
We already have the Electrolux Trilobite, the most advanced robot vacuum cleaner and that’s just the start. In the future, a team of mini-bots will ensure that your floors are dust free and clean everyday, and even polish wooden and clean bathroom floors.
For more information please contact Electrolux Media Hot line +46 (0) 8-657 65 07 or press@electrolux.com
