In an area of Singapore once home to a brickworks and military training facilities, a vision of the future of urban living is taking shape.
The country is building what it calls its first smart and sustainable town, promising 42,000 homes in an environment where people can be “at home with nature”.
The Tengah project will consist of five residential districts on the 700-hectare site in Singapore’s Western region. Named Garden, Park, Brickland, Forest Hill and Plantation, the areas are designed to improve residents’ health and wellbeing and give them a better quality of life.
How? With smart buildings, greenery everywhere and a prioritization of walking and cycling that routes motor vehicle traffic underground. Read more (WeForum)
The evolution of bathing goes back thousands of years, from religious ritual and social life – to today’s wellbeing haven and place of peace and solitude. Read more (BBC)
Contemporary artist Krista Kim’s latest project which features the first-ever sale of a digital home called the Mars House. Kim, who is responsible for high-tier collaborations with the likes of Lamborghini and Lanvin, just listed a neon-filled crypto abode filled with sharp, modern furnishings and complementing digitized adornments to boot. Most of the furniture items featured in the home can also be constructed in real life by glass furniture makers in Italy alongside MicroLED screen technology. The artist also teamed up with musician Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins to create an ambient soundtrack inside the virtual home. Read more (Hypebeast)
On Instagram, influencers share images of bedside tables artfully arranged with CBD tinctures and calming pillow sprays. E-commerce sites devoted to sleep products entice shoppers with serene branding and invitations to “sleep well” and “become your best self”. Read more (BBC)
“Imagine a city with the vibrancy, diversity and culture of New York City combined with the efficiency, safety and innovation of Tokyo and the sustainability, governance, and social services of Sweden,” reads the vision statement for the project. “This will be our New City.” Read more (Vox)
MACRO TREND THEMES: Resisting the bunker mentality; Taming the panopticon; Remembering humanity; Rethinking the healthy home; Ongoing evolving migration patterns; Aging populations; Rethinking what brings us joy; Rethinking the commoditization of home; Responsibility as the foundation; Reframing time and space; Making sense of place; Empowering agile materials and techniques; Adaptive and predictive machines for living; Expanding concepts of experience
CES 2021 PRODUCT TREND THEMES: (Whole House) Quick fixes; Empowering devices; Flexibility and adaptability; Ongoing data collection (Kitchen) Design Styling; Adaptive Living; Cultivating and experimenting; Circular rituals (Living Room) Aspirational space; Immersiave space; Human experiences; Designed to protect (Bedroom) Shelter in place; Maximizing downtime; Curative space; Proactive inducement (Bathroom) Prescriptive formulas; Immersive and responsive; Health maintenance; Self-sustaining efficiency
“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims,” said R. Buckminster Fuller. Out of necessity, the future of our homes is coming at us fast. It is loaded with technology and all that tech can do. We need to quickly understand and get ahead of this evolution of home design so that we can better inform what we need. The opportunities for home design will come from a better understanding of how human traits of behavior are adapting to change as well as earlier detection and action on the fragility of our future.
To better understand the context of what is emerging out of this COVID19 moment for home design, we looked at home-related products that will be shown at CES 2021.
We processed concepts through scenarioDNA’s culture mapping matrix to differentiate disruptive from emerging and residual from dominant codes. The analysis reveals greater opportunities to redirect new technologies to more abstract aspects of behavioral change.
Products and ideas exist across a spectrum of archetypes from residual to disruptive. What we are seeing in this is a trajectory of trends. The concern for makers is to understand where you are as a brand in relation to how people are thinking. The most provocative concepts are often the mundane ones that have an impactful tweak. Think of ambient light solar power and hydro-powered speakers informing future off-the-grid possibilities. Knowing what we are feeding now is critical.
Necessity continues to breed invention. At CES 2021, products shown reflect our time: air purification, entertainment, healthcare. Truly compelling is how we are handling the prospects of inclusivity, scarcity and waste. The recent scarcity of necessities has expedited new means of creation and new perspectives. Consider the device that uses an electric catalyst to turn water into plentiful disinfectant. Or the enzyme-powered compost that turns organic waste into air. We need to think ahead like that.
Covid-19 will likely have permanent effects on the way we work. But the way we live, socialise and move about the world will be different, too. Read more (BBC)
Extreme heat is one of the deadliest and most pernicious consequences of climate change. And cities — home to more than half the world’s population — are uniquely vulnerable thanks to a phenomenon called the “urban heat island effect.” Read more (Huffington Post)
These are economies born of necessity. But what was striking from the replies was that even those fortunate enough to hang on to their jobs have been cutting back. The furloughed and the unemployed are suffering, and if people still in work go round splashing the cash that is seen as insulting. Read more (The Guardian)
