This year's returning NextGen show home is packed with advanced electronics.
Buyers demand a lot in a home. They want a haven for their family. They want space to entertain friends. They want a place to get lost in a movie or a song. And they want amenities that leave more time for those things by easing their daily chores. Builders need to provide these things in a way that keeps buyers happy, while also being profitable.
The 2005 NextGen Demonstration Home at the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla. attempts to address all of these goals. With "Safe and Sound" as its title theme, the NextGen Home shows builders how advanced construction techniques can create stronger homes that act as a bulwark against natural disasters, intruders, and even outside noise. And as the official tech home of the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) Tech Home division, NextGen shows builders how to give their buyers the latest connected home technologies.
The most visible technologies on display let the occupants of the house enjoy more entertainment content, in more places using more devices, than ever before. A fiber optic feed delivers ultra broadband content to the home's structured wiring network. That content is managed by a multimedia PC running the just-released Windows XP Media Edition 2005, a new operating system that makes it easy to access audio and video streams, as well as digital photos, on demand. Users can access this content over the home network, or via wireless handheld devices.
In the home theater room, comfortable theater seating for six, a projector, and a 100-inch screen recreate the movie-going experience. Hidden in-wall speakers, plus sound-absorbing floor construction, equal professional quality acoustics. Homeowners can watch television while shaving. That's because the interactive bathroom mirror includes an LCD screen built into the bottom right-hand corner.
But the home's electronics do more than entertain. They also allow for unprecedented control of systems and appliances. Users can remotely lock and unlock doors, turn lights on and off, or reset the thermostat. They can pre-program appliances and home systems, then use a cell phone or Internet-connected computer to make last minute adjustments, like telling the oven to delay cooking time because everyone is getting home late. The home's electronics also support the "Safe and Sound" theme. For example, there's an advanced home security system, and an electronic valve that automatically shuts off the home's water supply if there's a burst pipe, then calls the owners to alert them.
Installing all of this technology has been made easy by a prefabricated Structural Insulated Panel called CoreWall. This new panel acts as the hub for the home's mechanical and electrical systems.
Charles Wardell is a freelance writer in Martha's Vineyard, Mass.