In 1983, a group of students from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology began work on a project that described what a house of the future would entail. This team ended up... Show moreIn 1983, a group of students from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology began work on a project that described what a house of the future would entail. This team ended up winning the grand prize (10,000,000 yen) at the first International Design Competition held in Osaka, Japan because their creative and innovative ideas about how a house of the future should be built 22 years later, in 2005, IIT’s Interprofessional Projects program started the Sustainable Village Project, an endeavor to build a sustainable and environmentally-aware community on the IIT campus. Part of this project was to design the house of the future in such a fashion as would fit in with the Sustainable Village. Through use of research both in the 1983 House of the Future, as well as the House of the Future developed in the spring of 2005, this semester IPRO 301 – Back to the House of the Future had the task of establishing a system of ideas and concepts which could be globally integrated to change the way modern housing is viewed and approached by builders and residents alike. Instead of simply being a structure that disrupts the environment and depletes natural resources, the house of the future will allow for the building of units which can be integrated into the environment and are more sustainable and efficient. By developing a methodology based on next-generation design principles, key technological advances, and considerations for building regulations and human health and safety concerns, IPRO 301 will lay a universal framework for constructing Houses of the Future of all shapes and sizes. Show less
