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By Barbara Knecht

Continuing Education Use the following learning objectives to focus your study while reading this month’s ARCHITECTURAL RECORD / AIA Continuing Education article. Learning Objective: After reading this article, you will be able to: 1. Describe the meaning of the term “smart house.” 2. Explain the importance of system integration. 3. Discuss the effect smart houses can have on medical home care.

The average middle-class house today is about as smart as the original Volkswagen Beetle when it was introduced 55 years ago. But whereas cars have gotten very smart, houses have not. As evidence, compare the VW Phaeton with the Beetle, a shell on four wheels with manually operated windows and a gaugeless gas tank. The Phaeton electronically conveys the owner’s personal information to the car; opens the door, adjusts the seat, seat belt, mirrors, steering wheel, and air-conditioning to the preferred settings; and starts the car without the driver ever having to put the key in the ignition. The interior of this automobile has four climate-controlled zones and 28 solar cells in the sunroof to power a ventilation system that cools the car when it is parked in the sun. The interior humidity is automatically controlled to prevent the windows from fogging up. At the touch of a button, the automatic-leveling air-suspension system can be reset for different driving conditions. The satellite navigation system will guide you verbally so your eyes never leave the road.

These functions are part of integrated systems, working together, not a collection of expensive accessories. If just a collection of gadgets defined a smart house—infotainment systems, radio phones, personal computers, wireless baby monitors, high-speed Internet connections, programmable heating, cooling, and cooking systems—then the concept of integrated systems would have no relevance. The problem is that the gadgets people buy aren’t that smart. Individually, they have some intelligence, but they don’t automatically cooperate with one another to simplify home life, and they clutter tables and floors, stick to the walls, and overload outlets.

 

Oatfield Estates Extended Family Residences in Milwaukie, Oregon, is a fully wired retirement village. Each residence has a programmable logic controller (PLC), which automates appliances, HVAC systems, and even monitors the occupants. Photography: Courtesy Elite-Care

While there is no shortage of high-end houses that are on their way to integrated and centralized control of HVAC, entertainment, communications, security, and lighting systems, they still require the owner to instruct the controller about desired actions. The smart house of the future will be an integrated system of electronics, sensing equipment, and other home technologies that communicate with one another and a central controlling computer. The system will know or sense things about the occupant and the environment and will be able to make adjustments and offer reminders without human intervention.