industrial facility amazin apartments for new old exhibition at the london design museum

in response to the ‘new old’ exhibition at london’s design museum, industrial facility has created an ‘amazin apartment’ concept which aims to simplify domestic responsibility. the installation – which was launched under the studio’s new venture ‘future facility’ – is made up of a series of appliances which have been reduced to their most essential interface. the result comes in direct relation to the brief which asked designers to propose a future for the ageing population.

‘amazin apartment’

curated by jeremy myerson, helen hamlyn professor of design at the royal college of art, and sponsored by the helen hamlyn trust and axa ppp healthcare, the exhibition is organised into six sections – ageing, identity, home, community, working and mobility.

each section features a special design commission by a leading designer or design team, creating new solutions for demographic change as well as addressing the challenges’ of ages. new projects by yves béhar /fuseproject, konstantin grcic, future facility, special projects, ideo and priestman goode feature in the show.

washer/dryer

future facility’s ‘amazin apartment’ is a theoretical invention, whose mandate is to remove the worry and burden associated with domestic upkeep by providing property development, management and supply. the installation consists of one wall which delivers three different functions: a washer/dryer, refrigerator and water fountain. one side of the wall is dedicated to the user, and the other half is used for the maintanence.

a washer/dryer has a single button with one setting, not endless interfaces. it is positioned at standing height, with a shelf below, to avoid the need for bending down. on the service side, large boxes of powder that last up to a month are installed.

the refridgerator has two doors – on the living side, the le door houses new ordered produce that has been delivered – and is moved to the right side for consumption. on the service side, there is only a right door for delivering the orders.

a water fountain allows a choice of filtered or branded waters to be plumbed in.

water fountain

simplified appliances like the above, as well as heating and air-conditioning utilities are built into ‘core’ walls (that are themselves products), serviced from behind by unseen ‘amazin service’ staff and robots. this structure is not dissimilar from the way the palace of versailles or fictional downton abbey are arranged, where residents never see the services nor the staff moving between rooms because of a network of service corridors and utility rooms hidden from the more formal, public and private rooms. the ‘amazin service’ corridor, the back side of the apartment wall, is organised like an advanced warehouse, so that goods and services can be passed through, historically analysed and replaced as needed with minimal impact on the apartment, allowing staff to repair or replace an appliance should it break – all without staff entering the apartment.

the ‘new old’ exhibition at the design museum is on display until the 19th of february 2017.

the maintenance side