Lumenhaus Smart Space
Lumenhaus is a solar house designed with a zero carbon footprint, and its interior demonstrates how less can definitely be more. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Dunay: One of the things we’re trying to convince the American public is that they can live in smaller spaces without compromising a quality of life.
Robert Dunay is Director of the Center for Design Research in the School of Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech, where Lumenhaus currently resides.
Dunay: It’s around 600 square feet, but it was designed to give a generosity, both in terms of space and also a condition in terms of supporting different activities. So, it functions in somewhat the way a transformable studio apartment might function in the city. There are lots of things that move and fold and close. So, when you need them they’re there, and when you don’t need them, they disappear.
One of the major features of the house is the kitchen. And part of it is a sliding table that’s moved out for different modes of operation.
So, when the kitchen is not in use, it seems to melt into the wall, but when you need the kitchen, there is a table that slides out.
[Sounds of table sliding out]
Dunay: Here we go. It’ll come past us. And it reveals, then, both the the cooktop and the sink, which then are full-use, but, then, the table is important because it becomes a galley kitchen.
So, when you start to have dining, you slide the table further out, and it becomes a divider between the living room and the dining room. In the third mode, the table can slide all the way to the large TV screen, and it can be used as a work surface. So, you can set computers on the tabletop and use the screen as a work surface. So it has multiple functions, in terms of service, in terms of office, also in terms of the kitchen.
To learn more, visit lumenhaus.com, that’s l-u-m-e-n-h-a-u-s.com. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.