Open house

The miniaturisation and networking of computer processors as well as the digitalisation and wireless transmission of data are opening up fully new possibilities for domestic environments. Yet what consequences will this have on residential architecture? For the exhibition “Open House: Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living”, emerging architectural firms were invited to develop visionary answers to this question. The architects are based in the USA, Mexico, England, France, Germany, Korea, Japan and Australia. Their extraordinary architectural visions are presented in detail for the first time in this exhibition catalogue. In an introductory essay, Susanne Jaschko, a curator of the exhibition, puts the designs in the context of general tendencies of contemporary architecture. Six further essays delve into the influence of new technologies on residential architecture and life in the home. “Intelligent Buildings” and “Intelligent Houses” are established and ubiquitous terms nowadays. The reasons they came into being as well as the most important current developments in this area are identified in the essay by Jochen Eisenbrand, curator of the exhibition. The characteristics of modern living and how these have evolved over the decades is described by Berlin sociologist Hartmut Häusermann. While the essay by architectural historian Beatriz Colomina comments on past visions of the future home, the American futurologist Bruce Sterling ventures a look at how we will live tomorrow from today’s perspective. The views of renowned international architects on the theme of “Future Living” are presented by the author Dana Hutt in her article for which she conducted numerous interviews. Finally, Christiane Sauer discusses some of the most interesting developments in the field of new innovative materials. The essays will be supplemented by an empirical section providing comprehensive, graphically attractive data on demographic and technical developments that are to shape our living environments in the near future. A small encyclopaedia in the appendix furnishes detailed information on the most important technologies that will play a central role in architecture in the coming years.