Students in the LCI's 300 level and instructors Shelly Stoddard and Liz Bowles had an opportunity recently to tour Virginia Tech's FutureHAUS.
FutureHAUS won first place overall in the Solar Decathlon Middle East in November. Now, it's back from Dubai and on display on the Drillfield. The award-winning "home of the future" is open for public viewing and demonstrations daily, from noon to 6 p.m., through April 28.
After touring FutureHAUS, the LCI students wrote paragraphs describing what they learned and their overall impressions
Today, we visited the Future Haus, I had to say that it is amazing. Although I saw that house on television in our country, I still was amazed by the house when I saw it by my eyes today.
The house is really eco-friendly. The materials that was used for the house are not similar to the normal buildings. It used wood as foundation cement, and it has the battery to store electricity from solar energy and water recycling system, which can save a big number of resources.
I was surprised by the movable space. For example, we can alter the wall that is between living room and bedroom to control the size to space as we want. The most memorable part is the separated single unity. Each unit can be easily connected to the main brain of the house, and then the brain can concurrently control every unit. This is apparently thoughtful. If a person who is not married and living by himself wants to buy a house, he does not need too much space, so he can buy one bedroom, one bathroom and one living room. In that case, he does not have to spend extra money to get a big house, and it only takes a few weeks to build the house instead of years.
However, I am concerned about impending fire emergency because the material that the house was made of is not fire-proof. Maybe the designers are still improving the house. When this house is really implemented by humans. they can decorate it to make it more aesthetic.
Today, after I visited the FutureHAUS project launched by VT, I was full of expectations for the future house. The modular design of the house has fundamentally changed my mind about the house. This modular mechanism makes the construction and movement of the house very fast. At the same time, the administrative body of the house is managed by a separate module. If the house has water or electricity problems, it can be quickly solved by repairing this module, and daily maintenance is also more convenient. The interior design of the house is also full of surprises. The walls of the working area, the living room area, and the bedroom area can be adjusted. As an example, if I want to have a party at home, I can use the wall to compress the studio and bedroom space to get the most space in the living room. Many devices in the toilet and kitchen can adjust the height according to your height to ensure the user experience. It is worth mentioning that the bathing equipment has a water saving efficiency of up to 90%, which is an excellent invention for environmental protection. Finally, I am looking forward to seeing the effect of this house in the evening, because the excellent lighting design of this house will make the home more beautiful at night.
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| Joe Wheeler, architecture professor and lead faculty of FutureHAUS, explains the house's inner workings. |
When I first saw the FUTUREHAUS, the circumstance is a little simple and crude, not as advanced as I am image before. To be honest, I was a little disappointed about that. I do not like its aesthetic. However, while the worker was taking us to visit the inside of the FUTUREHUAS, I changed my mind. There are plenty of furnitures which can automatically change. For example, in the restroom, toilet and sink can automatically change their heights depend on people’s heights. Thus, even children can do it by themselves without adults’ help. Moreover, in the bathroom, there is a movie screen on the glass. Therefore, people can watch movie when they are taking shower. That’s a really excited thing which I hope I can have it in my house one day. Additionally, in this FUTUREHUAS, the hot water can recycle when people are taking the shower. Undoubtedly, this function can save so much energy and protect the environment. Actually, this design can fundamentally solve the energy problem that people are facing. Of course it needs to be developed. Furthermore, the thing that most allures me is the light on the ceiling. It can automatically change its color depends on the different time in one day. That’s will help people to sleep better. And when the time is to wake up, the light may change to yellow or orange, so people can wake up naturally. It is really benefits for people’s health. To sum up, this FUTUREHUAS has already trumped most of the other normal houses. By visiting the FUTUREHUAS, I believe that people definitely can have a better life in the future.
The significant feature of the FutureHAUS is integrated technologies on the house, which can meet the various purpose of people. The integrated concept has altered conventional architecture because consumers can design houses by themselves using various functions of modules to assemble a complete structure. Furthermore, there are plenty of dashboards throughout the house. Additionally, they can recognize the user through voice and even height, and people can easily control applications autonomously by giving instructions to the system. The other essential function is that most furniture including toilet, shelf, sink, and mirror are adjustable height. With this strategic concept for a future house, it is convenient for tall and short persons. In addition, the water circulatory system in the bathroom can recycle clean wastewater and at a rate of 95%, which greatly reduces water consumption. Water shortage is going to be an impending problem in the future, so reusing clean wastewater becomes a popular topic. Moreover, the wall in FutureHAUS is removable, which uses automatic shifting devices. For this reason, people can adjust the size of the room. This type of design makes a home accommodate the needs of the homeowner and utilizes the most practical technologies to make living better and safer in the future.
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| FutureHAUS is on display on the Drillfield. |
