Reconfigurable House
with Adam Somlai-Fischer/Aether Architecture and the Reorient team.

[Reconfigurable House website]

The Reconfigurable House is an environment constructed from thousands of low tech components that can be "reconfigured" by its occupants. Any sensor/actuator can be connected to any other sensor/actuator -- it is the occupants of the house who determine the systems that run inside it.

Constructed at ICC in Tokyo, Japan, and open to the public until March 2008, the project is a challenge to ubiquitous computing "smart homes", which are based on the idea that technology should be invisible to prevent DIY. Smart homes actually aren't very smart simply because they are pre-wired according to algorithms and decisions made by designers of the systems, rather than the people who occupy the houses.

In contrast to such homes, which are not able to adapt structurally over time, the many sensors and actuators of Reconfigurable House can be reconnected endlessly as people change their minds so that the House can take on completely new behaviours.

For full information, real-time sensor values and video please see the Reconfigurable House @ propositions.org.uk.

Reconfigurable House remixes and recycles sensors and actuators from Reorient, the Hungarian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale of Architecture, 2006.

Reconfigurable House 2 has been erected at Z33, Hasselt by the Reconfigurable House team: Adam Somlai-Fischer, Ai Hasegawa, Barbara Jasinowicz, Bengt Sjölén, Gabor Papp, Tamás Szakál and Usman Haque. The installation will be on display from March 16 to May 25, 2008.

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