6 futuristic amenities that don’t exist...yet
By Jen Taylor on Aug 25, 2015
When you imagine life 10 years in the future, do you think of the handy robots and gadgets seen in the Jetson’s futuristic pad? The interactive technology represented by the HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey? Or perhaps the smartphone-oriented world imagined in Spike Jonez’s Her? What does the future of technology hold for our homes and how will it change the way we interact with our living spaces?
In Toronto’s crowded condo market, developers are stepping up their amenities packages and offering luxuries like rooftop infinity pools, jam rooms, and pet spas. However, in our rapidly evolving technological landscape, what will the condos of the future offer? Design competitions like eVolo Magazine’s 2015 Skyscraper Competition and forward-thinking architects are pushing the envelope and challenging the way we think about condo architecture and its relationship to humans and the natural world.
As technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace and change the way we interact with our homes, what will condo amenities look like in 2025 or 2050? Below, we’ve considered some of the potential futuristic amenities.
Completely integrated into the Internet of Things
For those of you still living under a rock, the Internet of Things refers to a network of objects that are connected and accessed through computers. These objects contain technology that can communicate, sense, or interact with both the internal and external environment. Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company, predicts that by 2020 there will be approximately 26 billion devices connected to the Internet of Things, potentially creating the ‘Internet of Everything.’
There are already several products on the market that are tapping into this new technology. The Apple Watch and self-parking cars have already become household fixtures and changed the way we relate to the world around us. However, a large portion of the smart devices being developed are centered around the home. Smart technology is becoming increasingly pervasive in the home and a large portion of the devices being developed are centered around home maintenance and control. Products like Nest allow homeowners to monitor the temperature of their home through their smartphones, while LG’s HomeChat allows homeowners to chat directly with their appliances, giving commands and receiving updates from the fridge, stove, or laundry machine.
In the future, our kitchens and bedrooms will be fully integrated into the Internet of Things. all condos will feature Smart Technology that allows homeowners to manage the temperature of their home, turn on the washing machine, preheat the oven, keep track of light usage, or monitor security all from their smart device.
Last year, Canderel announced that they would be integrating Smart Home technology into their YC Condominium development. In the future, all condos could have smart door locks, energy statuses, and full control of the entertainment system from a touchscreen or phone as standard. Who knows what else we’ll control with our smartphones 20 years from now!
Artwork by Dan Saunders - via Bioglow
Bioluminescent landscaping
New technology will extend to the outdoors, where landscaping will become more than just a decorative touch, but an integral part of the building’s energy efficient system. Bioluminescent light is becoming a popular topic within the field of energy efficiency and genetic engineering. This light is produced by a chemical reaction that takes place within a living organism, allowing it to emit a flash of light or glow continuously. Many of these bioluminescent organisms are found deep in the ocean, however, beetle larvae, fungi, glowworms, and bacteria have also been observed generating bioluminescent light. In North America, the most common bioluminescent creature is the firefly
Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has been working with the State University of New York (SUNY) and Alexander Krichevsky to create genetically modified bioluminescent plants - a prototype for plants that Roosegaarde hopes will one day light our cityscapes. Roosegaarde hopes to take the chemical reaction observed in the firefly and convert it into a form of sustainable lighting for our cityscapes. He hopes to create plant life that will naturally glow at night, replacing the need for energy-consuming street lights.
Perhaps in the future our condominium landscaping will be replaced by bioluminescent features, and residents returning home after dark will be greeted by the ethereal glow of large trees lining the front entrance to their home.
Farmscape Towers - via ArchDaily.com
Park spaces and gardens on the 40th floor
Greenspace is effective in reducing stress and improving mental health and work performance. As our cities become more dense it will become increasingly important for developers to stake out some space for parks, leash-free zones, and community gardens. As towers continue to grow in height, it may become necessary for these park spaces to be suspended many storeys above the earth!
The “eco-utopian” Vincent Callebaut re-imagined Paris as a Smart City, and his designs feature the Bamboo Nest and Farmscape Towers, both of which include vertical gardens and orchards that give residents the opportunity to grow vegetables or enjoy greenspace in an increasingly congested cityscape. Similarly, plans for Singapore’s Pinnacle@Duxton incorporate psychologically necessary natural elements like light and fresh air at different points throughout the tower and ensure that residents have access to entire floors dedicated to parks and community spaces. Japan’s vision for the hypothetical superstructure - the Sky City 1000 - also includes 14 horizontal “space plateaus” comprised of courtyards and shared public parks to emulate a streetscape, provide ventilation, and give residents access to daylight and rainwater.
These designs don’t just feature a token rooftop garden or beautiful landscaping, but entire floors dedicated to natural spaces. Perhaps the condominiums of the future will feature park floors with leash-free zones, play structures for children, and benches where residents can catch some sun or fresh air 40+ storeys high.
Photosynthesis Towers - via ArchDaily.com
Buildings powered entirely by renewable energy
In Scarborough, City Core Developments is building Harmony Sheppard Village, an environmentally friendly master-planned community. The condo is making strides in sustainable living by providing energy-efficient lighting, a bio-living wall for oxygen regeneration, ENERGY STAR appliances, and a three-stream waste removal system for recycling waste and compost. The condo features native plantings, a stormwater management plan to remove pollutants from runoff so rainwater can be collected and reused for the building’s landscaping, and a white roof to reduce the heat island effect. The most impressive feature is Harmony Village’s Geothermal Energy Technology, which will heat and cool the building reducing both the building’s energy costs and carbon emissions.
The CIBC Pan AM/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House has also utilized Geothermal and solar heating to offset the environmental cost of heating large pools of water. Additionally, Vincent Callebaut’s Smart City design features a building with honeycomb-like skins that harvest sunlight. Ideally, in the future amenities like Geothermal Heating and solar powered buildings won’t be newsworthy, but the norm in housing development.
New and improved gym amenities
As technology makes life easier and creates more free time for us, we will likely have to spend much more time in the gym to keep fit. Today, condos are expected to feature top-of-the-line fitness centres and even offer yoga and pilates classes to their residents. As our fitness demands grow, so will the fitness centres of the future.
Perhaps in 10 years, residents will take a yoga class led by a hologram or spar with a virtual boxer. Treadmills equipped with the latest technology will track all aspects of your workout and connect to your kitchen or fridge to advise a carefully calibrated post-workout meal. The fitness machines will not only track our workouts but perhaps also recommend areas that need improvement or extra attention. Healthy people are happier and often more productive, so gym technology will continue to be a priority for the condominiums of the future.
Via- ArchDaily
Connected to a new grid of transportation.
Spike Jonze’s Oscar-award-winning film Her is set in the not-so-distant future. Jonez’s vision of the future featured a city devoid of any cars. Here, people walk or use public transportation to get around.
As energy consumption and reducing greenhouse gases becomes more important to a new generation of homebuyers, and cities become more congested, Jonez’s vision of an automobile-free city may not be too far off. Bicycle storage and tuning spaces are already appearing in new condominiums that recognize the importance of alternative forms of transportation for the Millennial crowd. In the future, condominiums will have to offer services for public or self-powered transportation to meet the demands of the environmentally conscious Gen Y, Z, and Alpha Generation. These amenities could be something as simple as a bike share solution, or as extravagant as a jetpack rental. Perhaps all condominiums of the future will be directly connected to forms of public transportation, whether that is via a subway station underground or a streetcar stop that passes right through the lobby of your building.
What condo amenities do you envision for the future?
Will builders and developers in the GTA embrace these technological and environmental advances and change the way we construct condominium developments in the near future? What do you think the future of condominium amenities will look like in Toronto? Let us know and Tweet us at @NewHomeBuyers or share your ideas with us on Facebook!
Feature image: Reversal Strategy design via eVolo
