
1950s Smart Homes and the Longevity of Design - benbreen
https://resobscura.blogspot.com/2019/12/1950s-smart-homes-and-longevity-of.html
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Retric
What’s really interesting to me is the shortest version of Poulaine shoes
around 1 to 2 inches is actually functional as it prevents stubbing your toes.
Making many modern styles slightly less functional. Enduring design elements
often have these subtle benefits which are easy to gloss over when they become
exaggerated due to fashion.

You even get zombie designs with modern architecture keeping various elements
that where designed for airflow pre AC in homes that are kept sealed for
efficiency.

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madengr
There is an “All Electric Home” preserved in the county museum where I live.
The most interesting thing is the large, hidden relay panel used to control
everything, with a mess of low voltage wiring run throughout the house.

[https://www.jocogov.org/facility/the-1950s-all-electric-
hous...](https://www.jocogov.org/facility/the-1950s-all-electric-house)

Of course thus would be powered by nuclear energy.

~~~
frosted-flakes
You're link won't load, but my house is wired like that. It doesn't have any
"smart" features, but each light switch is a momentary-contact toggle switch
connected to a relay in a big panel in the basement. The system is made by
General Electric and is still sold today (mostly for commercial applications).

However, the low voltage wiring is very neatly done, and it still functions
perfectly. Since low voltage wiring is so small, it means a bank of nine
switches can easily fit in a single gang box (in the form of a 9-position dial
and a single switch). Also, some lights are controlled by as many as five
switches, since it's so easy to daisy-chain another switch, and I love that I
can shut off the detached garage lights from inside the house.

The main disadvantage is that it's difficult to add dimmers to lights, since
the line voltage isn't in the switch box.

This relay-driven system just screams to be hooked up to a computer system to
add "smart home" features, and I actually started doing that. I got a
prototype working with a Raspberry Pi and some home-made circuit boards to the
point where I could ask Siri to turn on any light in the house, but I'm no
electrical engineer, and before long my boards started to fail.

~~~
politekc
Have you documented this journey anywhere? Would love to follow along.

~~~
frosted-flakes
No, not really. This was a couple of years ago and I haven't done anything
since. I always meant to write a blog post about it, but never got around to
it.

I disconnected it completely a long time ago because it started to make the
relays stick and all the switches in the house stop working. It's actually my
parent's house, so I didn't want to make modifications to it or affect the
current switches at all, just add a little smartness. I still want to get back
to it when I get the chance.

The house was built in the mid-70s by a commercial electrician, and even the
closet lights are connected to it. There are about 50 switches/relays in
total. We've had to replace 3 or 4 of them in the last ten years, but that's
all.

All the low-voltage wiring is out in the open. The relays are cylindrical and
poke out of knockouts in the relay panel. The relays are of the latching type,
so only require power to switch on/off. Three wires to each relay and switch:
red/on, black/off, and white/common.

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mettamage
I didn't watch the video. I just wanted to mention to people the Bauhaus
movement [1]. We still have furniture that's quite similar to it [2].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus)

[2] [https://www.dezeen.com/2018/11/08/bauhaus-furniture-
designs-...](https://www.dezeen.com/2018/11/08/bauhaus-furniture-designs-
chair-tables-chess-set-baby-cradle/)

~~~
bproven
Also watches:
[https://www.junghans.de/en/bauhaus.html](https://www.junghans.de/en/bauhaus.html)

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classified
I just cannot resist quoting Yogi Berra here: The future ain’t what it used to
be.

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open-source-ux
What is it about certain designs that give them a 'modern' look despite the
passage of time? Do sharp, angular lines always suggest a 'modern' or
'contemporary' aesthetic? What makes a design feel dated or old?

Here is a teapot design. Modern-looking? (Some of you may recognise it.) Can
you guess when it was made?

[https://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2006AB...](https://media.vam.ac.uk/media/thira/collection_images/2006AB/2006AB1456_jpg_l.jpg)

Here's who designed it and when:

[https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78328/teapot-dresser-
chr...](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78328/teapot-dresser-christopher/)

Some more designs by the same designer:

[https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/wp-
content/uploads/2015...](https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/2015_0709_Dress-2_3.jpg)

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thomasfl
In the future, architecture might just as well look like old italian villages
or a french chataux. It is about human taste and fashion. Not technical
innovations.

~~~
CalRobert
One thing that's a bit different is it's relatively uncommon, in the wealthy
world at least, for people to design and build their own home now, as opposed
the vernacular (self-built) architecture of centuries past.

I'm a bit grumbly but it's frustrating to see planning boards make decisions
about what fits local architectural character, as though we decided to stop
changing what we liked when we started introducing planning requirements.

~~~
systemtest
This is a big problem in The Netherlands. I want to buy a plot of land to
build a home but it's always attached with a huge list of requirements. The
home needs to be between A and B cubic meters, ridge height C, gutter height
D, roof angle E, front needs to face the street, house needs to be
perpendicular to the street, brick needs to be color F, needs to have parking
for two cars, heating through system G.

I'm a big fan of prefab sustainable homes, the wooden flat-roofed bungalow
ones that you can plop down from a factory in about two days. But those homes
never meet the requirement list.

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Angostura
If you could design your new building so that it was invisible to everyone but
you, there would be no need for these mind of regs. Unfortunately every built
structure haas an impact on those around it.

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Jamwinner
If your liberty is somehow impacted by the color of my home, please explain
how...

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blacksmith_tb
Maybe not the color, but imagine if every one of your neighbors built homes
that had no windows facing the sidewalk/street - just a canyon of blank walls,
each with a door. I am not wild about the inertia that governs the design
review process, but I don't think I'd want there to be no oversight, either.

~~~
Retric
That could increase local home values due to uniqueness. What’s lost from
codifying building styles is the ability to adapt over time. Old cities are
beloved not due to adherence to a ridged design, but rather a mishmash or
difficult styles which add character and enhance their surroundings.

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bproven
Personally I enjoy all of the analog dials. For some reason they really look
neat, classy and appealing.

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newmac
I'm currently building a brand new house and we've opted to forego most of the
current home automation solutions. While they may have ushered in many of the
promises of the past, they are locked in and difficult to service. Instead we
are installing standard z-wave controllable switches/dimmers and standard
programmable locks/thermostats, etc.

In the end if we really want automation we can use HomeKit or Alexa, although
inviting Amazon/Alexa in to our home is a bit contentious.

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itronitron
>> in the end they settled on something oddly traditional: Louis XVI furniture

so glad 2001 was made before Mariott Residence Inns were a thing, I can stand
a week in one but would go insane if that was my zoo cage

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dsalzman
I love the fireplace / indoor grill combo. That’s timeless

~~~
tabtab
Isn't that what a "pipe stove" is? It's centuries old if I'm not mistaken.
Basically your fireplace is a big rectangular box with a metal pipe to carry
the smoke out of the house. You put the food to cook on top of the box.

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de_Selby
Better to just watch the video than blogspam that just extracts still images
from it and adds "insightful" commentary
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyrTgtPTz3M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyrTgtPTz3M)

~~~
Arbalest
Despite it being old and somewhat irrelevant now, I just can't watch an advert
for that long.

~~~
bb123
That seems like a loss for you more than Westinghouse. They don't even exist
anymore.

~~~
jacobush
They make nuclear fuel :)

