In a future where our homes are so tiny that they become more like storage-closets for humans, even finding space for food could prove to be tricky. This is the challenge presented by the Electrolux Design Lab contest this year, which asked 1300 industrial designers to come up with home appliances for a future of megacities.
According to the brief, by 2050 we’ll have just 35.2 square-meters per person to occupy (around 380 square-feet). The designs range from a
waterless closet, which “washes” your clothes as they hang inside flat sections that you can browse like the posters in the local mall’s head-shop, to the
virtual kitchen (picture right) which gives the lucky inhabitant a helmet to wear that projects him into a computer-generated kitchen. As he pretends to prepare food, his movements are transmitted to a robot chef in a real kitchen elsewhere in the building. Think Pixar’s Ratatouille, only with a helmet instead of hair-pulling, you instead of a filthy rat, and an awesome robot chef in place of the idiotic Linguini.
That design might be my favorite, despite the distinctly retro use of virtual-reality. It is also complete fantasy. Much more helpful, and much nicer to look at is the
External Refrigerator from French student Nicolas Hubert. The fridge looks like a giant iPod Shuffle, and bolts to the outside wall of your apartment. To open it, you open up the window and then pull the internal section of the box out like a drawer. The design not only saves space inside, but also stays cold in Winter without any power, and lets the heat extracted waft away harmlessly in the Summer.
I only see a couple of faults. One, it could end up in direct sunlight, which would be hard on the cooler, and in cold weather you need to open up the window to grab a beer, letting all the heat out of the room in the process.
The finals are being judged right now, and it’s worth heading over to the project pages to check them out.
Bio Robot Refrigerator by Yuriy Dmitriev, Russia Dmitriev's fridge is filled with a gel that morphs around the food and the temperatures are controlled by "bio-robots". A fridge filled with green goop and living things? Sounds just like mine.
Clean Closet – Waterless Cleaning by Michael Edenius, Sweden Edenius' wall-mounted cleaner/dryer appears to work by magic: "Textiles are scanned for impurities and cleaned accordingly with molecular technology that removes dirt and odours."
Dismount Washer – Laundry Basket & Cleaner by Lichen Guo, China The Dismount comes in two parts: a laundry-basket and a wall-mounted motor. When the plastic basket if full, you shove it onto the stick and somehow your clothes get clean.
Kitchen Elements – Modular Shelving by Matthew Gilbride, USA Hot here, and cold there, all without doors. Gilbride's shelves draw power wirelessly from the wall (even though wall-mounted objects are easy to just wire-in and will run on solar-power if needed. If nothing else, it looks easy to clean.
External Refrigerator – Exterior cooling by Nicolas Hubert, France
External Refrigerator – Exterior cooling by Nicolas Hubert, France Hubert lives in Shanghai, and was inspired by the dense, high-rise living.
The Snail – Micro Induction Heater by Peter Alwin, India The Snail runs on sugar and gloms itself onto the the side of a pot to heat it. Sensors somehow detect the food inside the pan and adjust the heat and cooking time.
Eco Cleaner – Portable Dishwasher and Composter by Ahi Andy Mohsen, Iran Mohsen’s little dishwasher uses "ultrasonic waves to ionise food and turn it in to reusable waste. Take a look at his profile and you'll also see that he has a s
spectacular mustache.
Kitchen Hideaway – Virtual Reality Kitchen by Daniel Dobrogorsky, Australia
