Prototype The Future by Siemens

Prototype The Future is an ambitious project to develop a prototype of the home of the future that combines new trends in interior design with Siemens’ vision of innovative technology.

The project was developed in collaboration with the well-known architect and Brand Ambassador Francesco Librizzi and his students from the two-year specialisation course in Interior Design at NABA, the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, where he teaches the course in Space Design.

The young designers had the opportunity to express their creativity by trying their hand at creating a prototype of the house of the future. Due to the global pandemic unleashed in March 2020, we have been confined to our homes for a long time and this has led to the emergence of new requirements that will undoubtedly influence and affect the homes of the future. One of the most important of these is the need for versatile environments that can be transformed over and over again each day according to the needs of its inhabitants.

 

This research project on new domestic spaces involved students from all over the world who, through their own history, experience and culture, tried to interpret the change in home living caused by the pandemic. They were the first to work remotely as a team, facing both logistical and emotional constraints, and had to deal with the limitations imposed by COVID-19.

In the following, the main stages of the process of representing the innovation in the current panorama of domestic living will be presented, both in terms of interaction between spaces and appliances, and in terms of multifunctionality. After an initial incubation phase, in which the students tried to combine the different ideas resulting from very different cultures, each group devoted itself to the actual realisation of the project, which was presented at the end of February exam. Some groups worked on a closer future, others went a little further away, but all the students showed a great ability to reinterpret an existing space to bring it into a new dimension, enhancing all its characteristics and potential.

 

On 18 June 2021, in conjunction with the Venice Architecture Biennale, the eight prototype outputs of Prototype the Future were exhibited in Platform’s house at the Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Misericordia in Venice. In this well-known location, institutional seat of prestigious exhibitions, installations and cultural events, the attentive eyes of visitors were able to observe the futuristic ideas of young NABA students for tomorrow.

All the projects were judged by a jury made up of Francesco Librizzi and a representative of all the players involved – Indiana, NABA, Ogilvy, Siemens – each called upon to give a judgement for their area of expertise. In September, during Milan Design Week, the winning project will be unveiled, i.e. the one that best interpreted the new requirements of domestic living. The winners have also been given the great opportunity to actually create their prototype, which will be on display to the public during the Fuorisalone.

During Milan Design Week, a docu-film was presented, revealing all the behind the scenes footage of the students’ months of work. This made it possible to understand the key stages and most interesting aspects of the process of designing the spaces of tomorrow. The docu-film also does not overlook the difficulties arising from the pandemic that forced the students to work remotely using Zoom. The use of this tool, however, made it possible to obtain an output that was as authentic and genuine as possible, thanks precisely to the possibility of filming Librizzi’s students during the various design phases.

 

 

For more information visit: www.siemens-home.bsh-group.com/it/inspiration/design/prototype-the-future

Download studioLine 2021 catalogue: Catalogo studioLine Siemens 2021-LOW_01042021

Photo Courtesy Siemens Elettrodomestici