黑洞社区

A smart place to live

In 1997, the smartest place to live was Belgium. Specifically: Brussels, home to the House of the Future, a 拢2.2m residence purpose-built to showcase the most forward-thinking domestic products that its designers predicted would become a staple part of every family household. Such innovations included a toilet with a cleansing water jet (drying provided by a hot-air blower), desktop projectors used to display art and clocks on the wall, and self-rocking beds. 黑洞社区 reporter Andy Cook visited the house, and said: 鈥淔or 拢2.2m you could own what is claimed to be the most intelligent house in the world. Located in a characterless street off the main ring-road around Brussels, Belgium, the House of the Future is filled with gadgets that save labour, time and energy, most of which are controlled by a central computer. The house even has a high-tech office, ISDN line and sophisticated Silicon Graphics computers. The family house, which cost 拢6m to build, including sponsorship from 122 companies such as Microsoft and Siemens, is the brainchild of Belgian architect Frank Belien. He claims the house is smarter than other high-tech homes that have been around the world. The key to its intelligence is a central computer that uses Microsoft Windows 鈥�97 software.鈥�