House of the future.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

Monsanto built a 'House of the Future' for the Disney theme park.
http://www.yesterland.com/futurehouse.html
This is actually built up from 8 sections of fiberglass grain silo.
Of course somebody decided to replicate it, in 1967.
Well guess what? it still stands to this day.
Some rancher wanted to please his kids and had one built, complete with all the fancy doo dads.
There is regular furniture inside, the motorized cabinets having failed and being replaced in the remodels.
But the basic structure is sound.
I looked it over and would do several changes.
First, scrap all the fancy furniture, buy what is available on the market today, once some woman gets hold of it it is going to change anyway.
Second, build the base just a bit wider and have a stairwell with an elevator in the center.
Have a driveway that runs the full circle of the house.
In this manner a person could drive near it when it was raining and get out of the car without getting wet.
Landscaping and a curb would keep the cars a safe distance away.
The elevator is very much needed in a house like this as for all practical purposes it is a 2 story house, without a true ground floor.
I would cut down the sheer size of the windows but have at least one emergency exit door per wing with an emergency ladder, a folding unit like what is used for attic access would be fine or perhaps something that drops from a window style.
The biggest expense is in the concrete work, the foundation has to suspend an entire house.
Flooding is not an issue if it is build tall enough. :mrgreen:
By its very design it can support a tower directly in the middle of the house, and provided it is not too tall can even look nice.
Things like a satellite dish and a monopole or 2 blend right in.
Utilities and HVAC are central to the structure by its very design and mounted in a concrete base, no more AC or water heater noise.
For a garage and shop area I would go with a more common design. :-D
http://www.monolithic.com/

[NQ6U]

I was in the House of the Future back in 1959, on one of the very few real vacations my family ever took when I was a kid. I don't remember much detail beyond being kind of bored by it.

[KG4CGC]

http://video.adultswim.com/family-guy/irish-history.html

[N2NH]

Good post Rudy. I was fascinated with this Disney exhibit but I missed it. I was wondering why it never took off when I noticed the room layout and complete lack of privacy. It was built really strongly though and took a lot to knock it down. I also missed the house of the future in Kissimmee (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/XFQmM1_xjO-CTBFC1MBuAA?select=kMX1JcsZe4A3wdKZaxKwsQ) too. I guess the future is now obsolete?

[W4RLR]

I also missed the house of the future in Kissimmee (http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/XFQmM1_xjO-CTBFC1MBuAA?select=kMX1JcsZe4A3wdKZaxKwsQ) too. I guess the future is now obsolete?You didn't miss much, Bob. I used to live in Poinciana, south of Kissimmee. I used to drive US 192 all the time, the entire area around the former house of the future is filled with empty strip malls and foreclosed condominiums. Kind of sad, really. A case of overbuilding coupled with Disney wanting to provide every amenity to keep Disney guests on Disney property.

[W1GUH]

You didn't miss much, Bob. I used to live in Poinciana, south of Kissimmee. I used to drive US 192 all the time, the entire area around the former house of the future is filled with empty strip malls and foreclosed condominiums. Kind of sad, really. A case of overbuilding coupled with Disney wanting to provide every amenity to keep Disney guests on Disney property.

Seen sights like that all over the country. Also miss the whole optimism about the future that was so strong back in the day.

[N2CHX]

Interesting but I'll keep my 1897 three story Victorian, thanks.

[kf0rt]

Another well known "future house" just sold in a foreclosure auction last week.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/frontpage/ci_16579942

[KG4CGC]

Also miss the whole optimism about the future that was so strong back in the day.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
I guess it wasn't profitable.

[N2CHX]

Yeah, I know what you mean.
I guess it wasn't profitable.

I'm apparently too young to remember anything like that.

[KG4CGC]

I'm apparently too young to remember anything like that.
I was a little late to the show but I understand and saw some of the enthusiasm he's talking about. Life was going to be better and we were advancing by leaps and bounds. Somewhere around 1970 everything was slowed down to a crawl.

[W1GUH]

I was a little late to the show but I understand and saw some of the enthusiasm he's talking about. Life was going to be better and we were advancing by leaps and bounds. Somewhere around 1970 everything was slowed down to a crawl.

Have they upgraded the highways near your home to accommodate the new driverless cars that are coming out next year?

[NQ6U]

The Sixties were a great time to be alive. Despite the JFK assassination and the looming threat of instant nuclear annihilation, there was a huge sense of optimism looking towards the future. Technology was going to solve all our problems; we were going to the moon, NASA could do no wrong, America was leading the world. 1967--the Summer of Love--was the zenith.

Then, average Americans discovered what a lot of people had been saying for years--the war in Vietnam was a disaster. Martin Luther King was killed, RFK was killed, northern cities started burning and there were the riots at the Democratic Party convention in Chicago. Mostly out of a sense of fear, Nixon was elected on a "law and order" platform. The country became divided over the war and everything started going downhill from there. The mood of the entire country changed. After the first couple of landings, people began to look at the Apollo program and instead of thinking instead of "Wow, how cool!", they began to wonder "what's are we getting out of this?" The economy stagnated, inflation became a huge issue, then, in the early Seventies, came the oil embargo and the economy got even worse. That led directly to the election of Ronald Reagan. I think you can pick things up from there.

[KG4CGC]

The modern anti-Christ is no single individual now but a group controlled by a singular mentality. Like it was straight out of a science fiction movie.

[W3WN]

Remember when Walt Disney was designing EPCOT? The Experimental Prototype Community Of Tommorrow?

Now EPCOT is just a tourist trap.

[N2CHX]

Wow! I had no idea that's what EPCOT stood for. Interesting.

[NA4BH]

There is an EPCOT thing on the way to Charles's town.

[KG4CGC]

There is an EPCOT thing on the way to Charles's town.
You mean that FEMA death camp?

[NA4BH]

You mean that FEMA death camp?

It's on the left near one of the volunteer fire departments on that highway (HWY 8?).

[KG4CGC]

I don't know. I'd have to give that one a look see.

[W3WN]

Wow! I had no idea that's what EPCOT stood for. Interesting.

The things you learn watching network TV. Especially back when you only had 3 networks...

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

EPCOT paved the way for a lot of things we now take for granted.
New Vista telephone company?
In Florida where DisneyWorld opened there was no telephone service, so Disney & Co. started their own Telco.
But this was to be no ordinary telco, no, this was to take something that the Bell system could not market no matter how hard they tried and make it work.
PicturePhone was a disaster, sending video with the telephone.
Disney made it work by not simply offering home video but also movies.
One offshoot of this was a programming source, Disney channel.
Couple this with Home Box office and you have it, from a phone company.

[N2NH]

Hello.

EPCOT paved the way for a lot of things we now take for granted.
New Vista telephone company?
In Florida where DisneyWorld opened there was no telephone service, so Disney & Co. started their own Telco.
But this was to be no ordinary telco, no, this was to take something that the Bell system could not market no matter how hard they tried and make it work.
PicturePhone was a disaster, sending video with the telephone.
Disney made it work by not simply offering home video but also movies.
One offshoot of this was a programming source, Disney channel.
Couple this with Home Box office and you have it, from a phone company.

ok. Seems to have gone off-road with this one. I'm off to eBay to buy a clue.

[KA5PIU]

ok. Seems to have gone off-road with this one. I'm off to eBay to buy a clue.

Hello.

http://www.smartcity.com/about/about_history2.asp
EPCOT.
When Mr. Disney died a lot of dreams died with him.
But he set the stage of progress.
The Hybrid automobile? a Disney theme park first.
Fiber optic cable to the home? Disney.
DSL?

Between Disney and the Star Trek series a lot of things that were just a figment of imagination are now reality, enriching the lives of people around the globe.
Walt Disney had a love-have relation with the Bell System and understood the ideals of universal service but wanted it it to be a utility with a demarcation point, much like electricity is.
In this manner one could run out and buy whatever telephone the market could provide, much like a housewife selects a toaster or radio.