The new year is here! And the new year makes me think of the future that will be and the future that’s here now. For your perusal on this most auspicious of days, here are four houses of the future. The house of the future has been envisioned many times in many ways, with plenty of variation. The house of the future frequently features curves, environmentally-provided heating and cooling, Coke bottles, and indoor gardens, but not always. I like these houses of the future because they’re attractive and fun, yet also eco-friendly and conscious of the surrounding landscape. Scope them out in a clockwise direction.

Designed by Luigi Colani, the first house maximizes use of land space by having one central space serve as every room through the clever use of rotation. There’s a living room area, then a rotating bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen set-up. The Zero House by architect Scott Specht, on the other hand, is listed as a house of the future for being totally off the grid and more than a little automatic. It’s pretty good looking, too, if you like the super duper modern look with angles and more angles. Looking for a home design that would bring the organic and the inorganic together, a New Mexico family commissioned Arquitectura Organica to create a house in tune with Momma Nature’s curves. The result was the Nautilus house, which is curvy inside and out and featured lots of indoor greenery. Finally, from Xenian comes the aptly named House of the Future, which pairs a warm wooden design with a rainwater harvesting system, passive ventilation, and solar cells for power.

Thinking of updating your house or perhaps moving in 2010? Best wishes on your home adventures! And have a wonder and prosperous new year!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 1st, 2009 at 5:55 am by Christa Terry and is filed under Unusual homes, Unusual structures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.