Retail Observer

JANUARY 2017 RETAILOBSERVER.COM 45 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FUTUREHAUS FINAL PHASE INCLUDE: • Smart Organization from California Closets—All areas are designed strategically by California Closets to maximize space, making use of every inch to gain additional functionality. A smart mirror touchscreen enables users to quickly find and select items in their wardrobe to be delivered on demand. The dressing room wardrobe has self-opening drawers and an automated closet clothing carousel, similar to the dry cleaner's. Tiny RFID (radio frequency identification) tags in the clothes enable the smart closet and wardrobe to scan and locate wardrobe items–ensuring you'll never lose a sock again. Need to know what's in the laundry? Simply call it up on the smart mirror screen. • Flex Space—With flex space, you can have less square footage but still have all the space you need, as well as a home offering cost and energy savings. Movable walls enable occupants to adjust living spaces for different activities and times of day. For example, the closet conveniently expands to include a sitting room, dressing room, and laundry room, or contracts to create extra space in the bedroom or office. If an extra guest bedroom is needed, the office wall converts into a Murphy bed with a simple gesture or voice command. • Smart Window Wall—An exterior wall demonstrates high-performance environmental design and a revolutionary modular construction strategy developed with DuPont. Embedded with sensors, the smart wall and window automatically adjust shading, privacy, and insulation, using thermal mass technologies. • Laundry—The laundry room, featuring Whirlpool appliances, can be easily hidden or exposed by moving the closet space—a convenient feature for minimizing noise and keeping the laundry area out of sight. Additional accessories, such as a folding station and ironing board enhance the function of the space, but tuck away when not in use. • Bedroom—In the FutureHAUS bedroom, comfort and utility unite for the ultimate sleeping experience. With a voice command, users can adjust the height and position of their Tempur-Pedic bed, or adjust the temperature, or sound system. A custom-designed LED lighting plan enhances the aesthetic and function through adjustable ambient and task lighting. Above the bed, an overhead canopy screen projects television programs and movies, or soothing sleep scenes like ocean waves, thanks to a projector hidden behind the headboard. • Mixed Reality Home Office—Telecommuters will enjoy the comforts of home while maintaining a full presence in the workplace with the FutureHAUS home office. The mixed-reality workspace features Microsoft's HoloLens headset and wall-mounted cameras, blending virtual reality and the real world. Telecommuters can work simul- taneously with 3-D holograms and their visible surroundings to collaborate and create with colleagues. An adjustable desk on the wall automatically raises and lowers to accommodate ergonomic sitting or standing work positions, and recalls settings for each user. • Audiovisual Wall—The office audiovisual, developed with KB Home, Corning, and SnapCab, wall models the endless possibilities for incorporating art, ambience, and technology within a single wall. Covered with Corning's Gorilla Glass, the wall functions as a speaker, television, computer screen, videoconferencing monitor, dry erase board, or decorative feature by spinning 180 degrees to display art or photography back-printed on the glass. • Cartridge Construction —Delivered and assembled in four "plug- and-play" cartridges, FutureHAUS demonstrates a more efficient way to build than conventional construction. The team preconfigures complex home components, like kitchens, bathrooms, mechanical rooms, and bedroom walls, in a factory setting. The process, adapted from modular and industrial manufacturers, creates a controlled environment to integrate and test advanced technologies, electrical, plumbing, and other home systems. Once at the construction site, cartridges can be quickly installed and linked. By moving building of these sophisticated parts off-site, many concerns about scheduling, weather, safety, and waste are eliminated. Virginia Tech's FutureHAUS Bedroom and Home Office of the Future is one of four signature KBISNeXT™ Experience sites, which give participants a unique hands-on interaction with the industry's latest trends and insights. The Kitchen & Bath Industry Show runs jointly with the International Builder's Show – bringing over 110,000 participants to the Orange County Convention Center for three days of industry- leading products and programs. ABOUT FUTUREHAUS AND VIRGINIA TECH Uniting the best of research, academia, and industry partners, FutureHAUS demonstrates what the future of housing will be in the fast-evolving Digital Revolution. The project has earned international media acclaim and industry awards for its research to make homes more technologically advanced, user-friendly, accessible, adaptable, affordable, energy-efficient, and sustainable. The team is also led by Denis Gracanin, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science; Clive Vorster, visiting professor of architecture in the School of Architecture + Design; and Bobby Vance, a master's student in the School of Architecture + Design. Students from Virginia Tech's College of Architecture and Urban Studies and College of Engineering worked in an interdisciplinary class to research and build the final phase of FutureHAUS and will be in Orlando to showcase their work to the world. Visit FutureHAUS at KBIS Booth S5880. Follow Virginia Tech College of Architecture and Urban Studies on Facebook or Twitter at @VTCAUS. For a full list of sponsors and more information, visit www.vtfuturehaus.org. Learn more about California Closets at www.californiaclosets.com. RO

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