The House That Tomorrow Built!

The future is now! Well, sort of. Setting aside Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity for a moment, we see the that in the 1950's the atomic family was looking forward to the latest and greatest new gadgets and gizmos that would consistently bring them happier lives. Much like that of families  of today, upgrading phones and computers, smart stoves and refrigerators to enhance our lives they too looked toward innovation and invention. Above shown, is a stylized view of the the coming idealism. What we see are flatscreen televisions, open atrium homes, laundry that presses itself, video chatting about the latest trends, food that automatically creates itself. We are not that far off today we have new technologies like GE's washer and dryer combo that steams your clothes, so they are wrinkle free, every time they ware washed. Samsung last year created the smart refrigerator that can help you know if you have the right ingredients for your recipes, or what you need to add to your grocery list. Hell, the Whirlpool Jet Chef microwave provides a grill functionality to your food! Goodbye stove! As a matter of fact in the image above there is no stove, we have moved on to a food replicating machine, hello 3D printed pizza, anyone? 

What we see up top is the most radical, there is no family car, and clearly there is no visibility to a road or a driveway, this has been replaced by the family helicopter on their heliport. Also barely shown to the left go the propeller of the helicopter is a plane, extremely long and sleek, which by the size and distance in the drawn image the plane would most likely be the length of a football field and carry thousands of people. This suggests that we have moved passed the needs of basic infrastructure of roads or highways in this reality, we have become airborne! Currently, as we look back to the vision of the 1950s nostalgic future, we clearly have not succeeded this yet, though are getting closer to those realities. With each day passing we come closer to the home of the future. Which just to include what modern day view of the future looks like, I have added the below image that was conceived by the LAVA group as a home of the future in Beijing. There are still idealistic geodesic domes, encapsulating our private gardens and spiraling lean, minimalistic spaces. 

A Beginning

The above image sparked the opening question to this project. How does one actually predict the future. According to Arthur C. Clark, in his science fiction epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, we should have by now had a moon base, an orbital space station and the ability to travel within our solar system rather quickly. Issac Asimov predicted that by now we would have ATM like automatons processing our currency and distributing wealth equally. The 1950's, the dawn of the Atomic lifestyle, brought about shows like Star Trek, Jetson's and Sealab 2020 with the hopes that we would have flying cars, shuttles powered by nuclear fission, and a research facility at the bottom of the ocean. In the 1970's, predictions were that we would be totally efficient on solar energy, fossil fuels were to be a thing of the past. Next year 2015, we are supposed to see Jaws 19, self tying shoes (which might happen), wear our clothes inside out and ride hover boards, as told by Back to the Future Part 2. Here is still hoping that the hoverboard will actually exist (yeah, I I know the video was straight promo marketing, though a guy can dream!).

This project is going to explore a look back at some fantastic Retro Futurist designs, current styles that look forward, interiors and homes that push the design envelope and technology that moves us to a better tomorrow. I hope you enjoy the journey as we jump in our time machine and travel to a world that could have been and what we foresee as the next tomorrow.