Living in the Future

Will we be living in tall skyscrapers, travelling around in aerocars and using even more labour saving devices?

50 years ago, that’s how people thought we would be living today. But really we are still living in homes that our parents and grandparents grew up in. And in 50 years time, perhaps your children will be living in homes just like yours and mine!

What has changed is that we know we cannot carry on using up the world’s resources at the same rate. That’s why architects are looking at how we design our homes of the future, how we make them more efficient and what materials we build them with.

Some experts say that water will be more scarce in the future, so homes might soon be designed with barrels on the roof to collect rainwater and clever plumbing systems so that the water you use in the shower is recycled to flush the loo or water the garden.

If you look around, you might notice that lots of modern buildings are mostly glass. This is partly because people think it looks shiny and modern, but also because it lets in more light and so less energy is used to light the building during the daytime.

Fun predictions about the future!

Rather than a holiday in the South of France, perhaps in the future we’ll have holidays on the moon. There’s already a Russian company designing a hotel in space – just imagine the view! And as there’s zero gravity in space, architects could have fun designing buildings in crazy ways that aren’t possible down here on earth!
And architects in Abu Dhabi hope to create the first ever ‘zero–carbon, zero-waste’ city, using futuristic technology to design skyscrapers that act like trees!

Let’s go looking for Futuristic buildings!
There are lots of exciting new buildings that might give us a clue what the future will bring, and there are lots more on the way!

London’s Strata Tower is the city’s tallest block of flats! It has three wind turbines built into it to help create some of the energy it needs. Some people have called it ‘The electric razor’ because of the whirling blades and its black and silver lines, but the Mayor of London thinks it looks more like a lipstick!
And a new tower being built near London Bridge will be clad entirely in glass. It’s triangular in shape, which is why it’s already become known as the Shard of glass!