Innovative Homes & Offices
Homes and offices should be built around the idea of being an integrated human-centric environment. Sectors involved in construction (contractors, domotics/automation, security, multimedia, communication, …) each deliver their part but often fail to deliver the integration ideal.
Some industries combine communication and multimedia (e.g. home theatre and computer vendors), others combine home automation and security (e.g. domotics integrators), and still others offer construction and environment conditioning (e.g. air-conditioning and heating vendors). Yet the consumer often needs to content with what he can get rather than what he really wants.
What if you want to decorate your wall with moving images making you believe you are having lunch on Time Square today or under water near a coral reef tomorrow? Who will allow you to control movie viewing with simple hand gestures while sitting in the Jacuzzi or by voice commands when you are drying yourself? And shouldn’t you be able to watch your children at home when you work late at the office or see who is ringing at the door when not home and possibly let them in? How come vacuum cleaning isn’t yet fully automated and air conditioning isn’t a fully integrated process filtering the air, bringing it up to the correct temperature and humidity and mixing in some momentum scent that is in full harmony with the current lighting and multimedia atmosphere and people occupying the room? Why does the house not learn your habits and increase your comfort by anticipating your actions? Why can’t you just say “Computer: add a six-pack of beer to the shopping list” no matter where in the house you are. And shouldn’t you be able to have coffee at breakfast and ask the home to fetch you a selection of news based on your preferences and serve them with the audio or video means at hand in the kitchen’s surroundings?
Plenty of individual systems allow us to tap into such isolated features. Yet just try to find them as a total integrated system where you can interact in an intuitive way with the home or office but not have to deal with each and every isolated device that is part of it. Our years of experience in business systems integration, software development and research in user behavior, allows us to bring a unique new approach to designing a better living environment including all the benefits modern electronics have to offer.
