The home’s energy functions are connected to a central, Internet-capable automation system that allows lights, air conditioning, home entertainment and irrigation systems to be turned on and off remotely.
Cape Town, the home building industry is similarly exploring innovative ways to go greener and smarter.
Architect Matthew Beatty says green building principles are not being driven by environmental concerns alone. Rapidly rising operating and utility costs, electricity and water usage in particular, will force us to turn to energy-efficient buildings.
Beatty expects few South Africans will be building homes on the grid a decade from now – they will all have double- or triple-glazed windows, grey-water cylinders, solar-powered heating, rainwater harvesting and more. Beatty is designing a home in swanky Bantry Bay that will be entirely off the grid and as carbon neutral as possible, meaning that building materials and methods have a minimal impact on the environment.
Beatty says the Bantry Bay home is an example of how top -end, contemporary homes can go completely green without sacrificing luxury and aesthetics. The trend towards environmentally responsible design will also extend outdoors. Beatty believes the world’s rising food scarcity will prompt more people to cultivate their own produce, and that will have to be incorporated into future home designs. But it seems that the will not only be greener and smarter but also smaller. Beatty says escalating building and running costs will drive this trend.
Though homes will be compact, they will be more beautifully designed than ever, as people become more discerning about architectural significance, finishes and fittings. “Think of luxury yacht and aeroplane designs” says Robert Silke, design director at architectural firm Louis Karol, agrees that downsizing is likely to be the biggest shift in home-building trends over the next 10 years.
Location will become far more important than size.People will also eat out more as they won’t have as much space in which to cook. Our lives will be played out in public spaces instead of our own back yards, which Silke sees as a positive move towards creating more integrated communities.
We’ ll go back to the way ancient Greek civilisations lived,he says, with people staying in small, humble abodes. But they had easy access to a magnificent array of public spaces and lifestyle amenities.