1989’s Quiet Bet on the Home of the Future That Learned to Disappear

A 1989 segment on the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World included specialists attempting to present a picture of what life in homes would be like by 2020. Futurists, engineers, and TV personalities were all speculating on the shape of future dwellings, and their concepts gave a pretty good image of what that may look like, or at least tried to.

Experts met in the studio that December evening to build a model of a house and explain what the future will bring. They were all quite confident, which gave the proceedings a serious appearance, and they came up with some fairly interesting suggestions. One of the great ideas was that technology would be so flawlessly integrated that you wouldn’t even notice it was there; gadgets would simply blend into the walls and furniture.

Lights would also be able to sort themselves out. So, if you walked into a room, they would turn on automatically, and if you walked out again, they would turn off on their own. If you were one of those night owls who stayed up late, the system would remember to dim the lights for you. You’d never have to search in the dark for the light switches again.

Several basic voice commands would be used to control entertainment. So if you only said “play me some music,” recordings from the central library would appear, as there would be no need to have any CDs or cassettes on hand.

Power delivery was also set to become much easier, as outlets will be phased out in favor of these special pads integrated into the walls that you could simply plug in your devices to. No more irritating cables, or the entire area would be devoid of visible wiring, making the space lovely and flexible.

It turned out that glass would also play a significant role in all of this. They were discussing breakthrough technologies that would enable windows to change state in an instant. So one minute you’re letting in a lot of light, and the next minute it’s just opaque, allowing you to have a nap or whatever without being noticed. Oh, and it’d be able to handle all that terrible glare and heat from the sun, which would be a plus.

Some of the more ridiculous predictions claimed that you could change a window into a TV screen or computer display simply by telling it to. If you chose, you could make the entire thing into a solid wall and decorate it like any other wall.

It wasn’t just about making life easier, as they also put a strong focus on making homes more environmentally friendly. So, in the future, they would employ energy-saving materials such as special foam insulation that kept the warmth in or honeycomb constructions that let the sunlight through while keeping the heat in. Heating systems would be smart enough to learn what you do on a daily basis and only heat the spaces that require it to the appropriate temperature. It took a lot of thought to ensure that dwellings automatically safeguard the environment.

Some of these ideas have gotten closer to reality than others. Voice control is now very common in millions of homes; you can control your music, lighting, and other devices by simply saying a few commands. Motion sensors have become the norm for lighting, but the concept of wall pads that charge your electronics remains a pipe dream…for now.