Chicago’s Smart Home Transformed for 2010 by Midwest Living
The Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit, a fully-functioning, eco-friendly home on the Museum’s grounds, has been transformed for 2010 by Midwest Living®. The home is redesigned to reflect the lifestyle of a couple looking to minimize home maintenance, maximize efficiency and settle in to a space that not only is beautiful, but functional. Over 200,000 guests have toured the home since the exhibit first opened in May 2008.
Midwest Living has partnered with the Museum of Science and Industry to redesign the interior space of the award-winning “green living” exhibit–Smart Home: Green + Wired–at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Senior Design Editor Carol Schalla updated the home’s interior design with the latest in eco-friendly products and resources to create an elegant and functional urban space for an empty-nester couple.
Emphasized are great spaces for entertaining, a master bedroom that serves as a retreat, the ultimate multifunctional, eco-friendly garage and a functional home office—all of which keep in mind natural elements and harmony with the earth. The design features soft, organic textures and colors fused with a contemporary style. Within the home, guests are able to view the latest innovations in reusable resources; smart energy consumption; eco-friendly landscaping; and clean, healthy-living environments in a contemporary setting.
One of the high performance, energy efficient building systems being used is Warmboard Radiant Subfloor. Warmboard radiant floor heating is utilized as the heat source on the first and second floors of the building because of its contributions to occupant comfort, energy efficiency and clean Indoor Air Quality.
Because of Warmboard’s high conductivity, low mass and fast response, the radiant system ensures that residents are never too hot, never too cold, always just right, always comfortable. The high conductivity of the Warmboard radiant panel also results in lower water temperatures which creates greater efficiency and lower operating costs. Additionally germs, dust, pollen and mold spores generally associated with forced air systems do not apply to Warmboard radiant heat.
See the home that has shown guests some ways, big and small, to make eco-friendly living a part of their lives. Smart Home: Green + Wired is a must-see exhibit for anyone who wants their home, and life, to be smarter, more efficient and more in tune with the environment than it is today. The exhibit runs until January 2011.
