Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM MARCH 2016 60 J ust like the kitchen and living room, which were both completed last year, the bathroom explores ideas for the future that incorporates currently available cutting-edge appliance, newly created smart technology, and integrated accessible design. The vanity raises and lowers to different heights based on settings controlled through fingerprint recognition, adjusting to the different needs of adults, children, or those in wheelchairs. The team created a smart mirror behind the vanity that contains all of the controls for the bathroom, including temperature and flow controls for the shower. Standing in a designated spot on the floor will display the user's weight on the smart mirror. The mirror can also be set to display other useful information like the weather, local traffic information, emails and texts, calendar, and time of day all based on user preferences. "The mirror is your desktop," said Joseph Wheeler, one of the project's leaders and a professor of architecture and co-director of the Center for Design Research at Virginia Tech. "You can set it up just like your smartphone or tablet." Above the vanity, a ceiling fixture made up of a network of nested glass tubes displays varying light settings. Integrated night lighting within the floor automatically illuminates when it senses motion so users do not lose their way in the dark. The floor is one solid sheet of acid-etched glass engineered to hold up for safety and for transport from factory to building site. The etching creates an anti-slip surface, and the continuous surface makes it easy to sanitize. An important feature of the floor is the integrated slip/fall detection, which can automatically notify a caregiver should the floor detect a change in frequency consistent with a fall. And to keep things clean, a robotic vacuum automatically emerges from a slot in the wall to clean the floor when the room is vacant. The shower wall features a newly introduced solid-surface product that is form-cast to provide textures and patterns. Automatic shampoo, shower gel, and conditioner dispensers keep things tidy and efficient and the smart mirror displays the levels of each so they can be replenished when they are low. A voice-controlled projector integra- ted into the shower shows videos on the glass wall separating the bathtub from the shower. The tub itself is a Kohler model that offers features that go well beyond the typical bathtub, including varying music tones that create a vibration-based cleaning effect similar to a sonic jewelry cleaner. The toilet, also from Kohler, contains numerous features for FUTUREHAUS THE FUTURE TECHNOLOGY, DESIGN T H E T H I R D P H A S E O F V I R G I N I A T E C H ' S F U T U R E H A U S , A H I G A T K B I S 2 0 1 6 I N L A S V E G A S . T H E P R O J E C T ' S F I R S T P H A S E , W H E N I T M A D E I T S D E B U T I N 2 0 1 5 A T T H E S A M E E V E N T — Virginia Tech Center for

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