The Museum of Science and Industry’s latest exhibit is a fully functioning three-story house, the “Smart Home, ” an ecologically sound building built on the foundation of material, energy and water efficiency. This is green living gone haywire. Museum guests are ushered through a twenty-minute eye-opening (if somewhat rushed) tour of the house. Every aspect of the building is environmentally friendly, from the recycled construction material, to the organic food, to the to LED lights. An ethanol-burning fireplace. A “raw” wood kitchen table. And of course, in the garage, a hybrid car. The house is called “smart” for a reason. Even the houseplants are clever. When a plant needs watering, a call is placed to your phone. That’s right—your plant is calling to say it’s thirsty. A black obelisk with blinking blue lights (that calls to mind HAL from “2001: A Space Odyssey”) is the “brains and guts” of the “Smart Home”; it’s an automated system that controls the heating, cooling and lighting of the entire house. A module of the house’s network charts not only the amount of energy being used, but also the amount being produced. Guests are given a “Resource Guide” which, like a shopping catalogue, details each gadget and piece of furniture, and where everything can be purchased. We all might not be able to live in technologically advanced, self-sustainable houses, but we can live green by bringing aspects of the “Smart Home” into our own. (Laura Hawbaker)
“Smart Home: Green + Wired” runs at the Museum of Science and Industry, 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, (773)684-1414, through January 4, 2009.
Today In The Culture, December 9, 2022: Intuit Expansion Funded | Carol Ross Barney Gets AIA Gold | History of the Green Book ART City Grants $5 Million To Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art Intuit, the West Town museum "dedicated to showcasing outsider art from Chicago and across the country, received a multimillion-dollar city grant to expand its exhibition spaces, modernize its facilities and build a dedicated education area," reports Block Club Chicago. "The city grant will help fund the…
