Smart Home Technology and Future House Design Ideas and Photos

The automation that genuinely improves daily life — lighting scenes, climate, shading, irrigation, security and solar, wired to last twenty years. A genuinely smart house is not the one with the most devices, it is the one you never have to think about. The systems worth automating are the ones you would otherwise adjust several times a day: lighting, heating and cooling, external shading, irrigation, pool equipment, hot water and energy. Everything else is a gadget, and gadgets age badly while good infrastructure lasts decades. Wire it properly and the rest becomes easy. Structured cabling to every screen and access point, a small ventilated comms cabinet, hardwired sensors and switches on the circuits that matter, and a spare conduit to the garden, garage and studio. Wireless is a convenience layer over a wired backbone, not a substitute for it. This costs very little during construction and is prohibitive afterwards, which is why it belongs in the earliest drawings. Then automate around the sun rather than the clock. External blinds and louvres that close on the west in the afternoon do more for comfort than any air conditioner setting. Lighting scenes tied to sunset, irrigation tied to soil moisture and weather...

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Outdoor Furniture

Modern Outdoor Modular Setting with Charcoal Aluminium Frames and Shaded Dining Zone, Umbrella Cover

Modern Outdoor Modular Setting with Charcoal Aluminium Frames, Rope Weave and Ivory Outdoor Fabrics, Layered Perennials and Uplit Feature Trees. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com — Modern Outdoor Modular Setting with Charcoal Aluminium Frames, Rope Weave and Ivory Outdoor Fabrics, Layered Perennials and Uplit Feature Trees, featuring a Shaded Dining Zone, Umbrella Cover and Relaxed Lounge Seating, balanced by Clean Sightlines, Shaded Retreats and Relaxed

F3 Rear is part of our Outdoor Furniture collection — one of 90 large-format widescreen concept visuals in this section. It is presented here at full size so you can study the layout, the planting, the surfaces and the way light falls across the design before you commit to building anything on your own block.

Timber, cane, aluminium and stone settings, dining, lounging and material detail shots. Use this concept as a starting point: note the proportions between built form and greenery, where shade and shelter sit, how paths and paved areas move people through the space, and which materials repeat to hold the whole scheme together.

Every visual on this site is a design idea created for Home Design Photos. Browse the rest of the Outdoor Furniture collection, or open the complete image catalogue to see every home, garden, pool, pergola, furniture, lighting and beach house concept in one place.

← Alfresco Dining Furniture Design with Powder-Coated Steel and Sunken Conversation Lounge and Firepit Centrepiece Outdoor Furniture Setting Design with Solid Teak Slats and Sun Lounge Row, Side Tables →

More Outdoor Furniture concepts

Garden Lounge and Daybed Setting with Woven Cane and Daybed Retreat, Low Coffee Table

Garden Lounge and Daybed Setting with Woven Cane, Rustic Teak Timber and Sand-Toned Weatherproof Cushions, Sculptural Succulents and Fine Gravel Surrounds, featuring a Daybed Retreat, Low Coffee Table and Soft Shaded Comfort, framed by Generous Paved Terraces and Warm

Poolside Lounge Furniture Design with Reclaimed Timber and Long Bench Dining Setting and Warm

Poolside Lounge Furniture Design with Reclaimed Timber, Concrete Table Tops and Warm Terracotta Cushions, Tropical Foliage Backdrop and Deep Green Screening, featuring a Long Bench Dining Setting and Warm Evening Lighting, with Considered Outdoor Zoning and Soft Layered Textures

Alfresco Dining Furniture Design with Powder-Coated Steel and Sunken Conversation Lounge and Firepit Centrepiece

Alfresco Dining Furniture Design with Powder-Coated Steel, Black Rattan Weave and Textured Linen-Look Fabric, Potted Olives, Clipped Hedging and Soft Grass Borders, featuring a Sunken Conversation Lounge and Firepit Centrepiece, finished with Sculptural Feature Planting and Inviting Outdoor Living

Poolside Lounge Furniture Design with Reclaimed Timber and Long Bench Dining Setting and Warm

Garden Lounge and Daybed Setting with Woven Cane and Daybed Retreat, Low Coffee Table

Poolside Lounge Furniture Design with Reclaimed Timber and Long Bench Dining Setting and Warm

Complete image catalogue

Off Grid Tiny Home and Solar Cabin Design Ideas and Photos

Solar arrays, batteries, water tanks, composting systems and the sizing calculations behind a cabin that runs without any connection at all.

Going off grid is an engineering exercise before it is a lifestyle. Every appliance in the cabin has a daily energy figure, every occupant has a daily water figure, and the system must cover both through the worst week of the year rather than the average one. Cabins that fail do so because they were sized on optimism: a small array, a small battery and a hope that winter would be sunny.

Start with the load. Lighting, fridge, pumps, laptops, cooking and hot water, listed with hours of use, gives a daily kilowatt hour total. Size the array to generate that in mid winter, not mid summer, and size the battery for two to three days of autonomy so a cloudy stretch is uneventful. Choosing gas or wood for cooking and heating, and solar or heat pump for hot water, dramatically reduces the electrical system required.

Water follows the same logic. Roof area times local rainfall gives annual harvest, and tank capacity should cover the longest dry spell rather than the average month. Add first flush diverters, a sediment and carbon filter, ultraviolet treatment for drinking, and a pressure pump with an accumulator. Greywater to a mulch pit or reed bed, and a composting or worm system for waste, means no sewer connection is needed at all.

Tiny Homes design ideas photo from the Off Grid Tiny Home and Solar Cabin Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

The building itself is the cheapest system available. Heavy insulation, airtight construction, double glazing, deep eaves, a light roof and cross ventilation reduce heating and cooling loads so far that everything else shrinks. Site the cabin for winter sun and summer breeze, orient the array without shading, keep the plant room accessible, and monitor everything. Done properly, an off grid cabin is quieter, cheaper to run and more comfortable than most connected houses.

House Design Photos is a HUGE Library Gallery and Directory of Home Design Photos

Smart Home Technology and Future House Design Ideas and Photos

Modern Outdoor Modular Setting with Charcoal Aluminium Frames and Shaded Dining Zone, Umbrella Cover

More Outdoor Furniture concepts

Off Grid Tiny Home and Solar Cabin Design Ideas and Photos