Home Futures

About this book

The home of the future has long been a topic of fascination in popular culture and an intriguing prospect for designers, and the 20th century offered up countless visions of the future of domestic life, from the aspirational to the radical. Whether it was the dream of the fully mechanized home or the notion that technology might free us from the home altogether, the domestic realm was a site of endless invention and speculation. But what happened to those visions? Are the smart homes of today and patterns of use in the sharing economy the future that architects and designers once predicted, or has the home proved resistant to radical change? 'Home Futures: Living in Yesterday's Tomorrow' explores different approaches to reinventing domestic life, tracing the social and technological developments that have driven change in the home. The first comprehensive survey of the 20th century's aspirational, radical and futuristic visions of the home, this richly illustrated publication showcases a range of ideas and plans for the future from the prescient to the fantastical that designers produced as they imagined new ways of living at home and on the move, independently and collectively, with more and with less.