With remote work here to stay, contemporary design trends are reflecting themselves in the increasingly flexible home office concepts and adjustable living spaces that we are seeing pop up in fashionable arrangements. Adaptable furniture, soundproofing elements and smart home systems with lighting and temperature controls that can alter depending on whether you or your family member is using the space are just a few of the emerging design trends inspired by the heightened need for mental wellbeing.
Sustainably harvested and reclaimed wood products, along with low VOC paints, continue in high demand for their timeless looks and durable nature. Trends like using food-grade oil blends to condition wood floors generate sustainable wins for the environment, homeowner and guests.
Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR)
Smart home technology will be a part of everyone’s life by 2024, with more and more homes being integrated to form a whole. Through voice-controlled light design, AI home management system and smart glass, your house can become your servant.
These technologies allow for a realistic, immersive simulation of a home to be experienced before construction so that potential flaws may be weeded out before a plan is finalised, and a trader can be confident that the finished product will feel natural and right.
AR and VR are also being used in other spaces: furniture outfits use AR/VR to place virtual furniture in their spaces; neurosurgeons use it for surgery for layering brain scans on top of; and broadcasters use TikTok broadcasts for football matches to mark up the parts of the field as part of common applications to these systems that also serve systems that can enhance well-being through smart home design.
Multigenerational Homes
A growing number of families are opting for multigenerational homes; that is, the ultimate in the flexible lifestyle, where grandparents, parents and children live together. The best multigenerational design allows everyone to get along while providing common living areas as well as space for some solo attention.
Wide doorways, slip-resistant flooring, kitchens and other high-traffic areas designed for those of all abilities and ambulatory skills are all very much in order.
Noise may be a problem too; non-stop toddling, giggling, squabbling, banging and thumping among the young may be intrusive to fellow family members who are looking for a quiet life. So Toll Brothers offers its clients floor plans for the living suites that provide both privacy and shelter from the daily reality of family live.
Adaptable Living Spaces
The physical space of the home must therefore be built in a way that it can accommodate changes in need, preference and lifestyle. While using flexibility as an aim for future residential environments makes sense, it will likely become a necessary reality if homes are to remain functional throughout the course of someone’s lifetime.
Designs that allow rooms such as home offices to be used for different purposes at different times mean that home owners spend less money refurbishing later on.
These flexible living spaces will be supported by means of integrated smart technology and modular multipurpose furniture. In addition, communal areas we be incorporated into homes in order to facilitate interaction between residents, while also making everyday household chores easier to manage for householders.
Biophilic Design
Given the growing popularity of biophilic design, there are numerous resources to hand for making an area of the home look beautiful. Hologram projections of nature scenes or real plants are just two of these. But it’s important to keep our eyes fixed on authentic connections with the natural world and not simulations of them.
While the research agenda on health benefits of biophilic design continues to expand, biophilic patterns becomes more and more a priority for architects, designers, building portfolio managers, human resource administrators and green standards and rating systems. Only by ranking the different patterns by their impact on health will architects, designers, building portfolio managers, human resources administrators and green standards and rating systems know what biophilic pattern to apply where, say Prospect for large spaces, but Visual/NonVisual Connection with Nature or Presence of Water for small spaces.
Robots in the Home
Home robots with modern sensing capabilities are able to perform not just basic machine functions but, with various applications and AI advancements, the scope of their use continues to grow.
Modern home robots is linked to smart devices by a network, so you can control it remotely hand free, and to automate household tasks(Fig. 2). Many of them are easy to match into different style of home decoration, whose appearance is extremely fashionable and attractive.
Some can learn to handle complicated environments, like the Samsung temi robot that integrates generative AI and the Alexa voice assistant – you can get it to trail you like an aide, control other connected devices in the IoT or take the dog on a walk (or for elderly users there’s the ethical companion ElliQ from the startup Intuition Robotics).
