Glimpses into the (very near) future

‘Living Tomorrow’ offers a glimpse of a bright new world in an industrial outpost of Vilvoorde, a few kilometres outside Brussels.

The Living Tomorrow project is the fourth of its kind, after two earlier examples in Vilvoorde and one in Amsterdam. The idea was developed by two Belgians in the early 1990s. Co-founders Frank Beliën and Peter Bongers wanted to showcase some of the latest technological developments just before they made it to the market and to help develop a few more. The two men expect a million visitors to the €20 million site before it closes in 2012.

The first project opened in 1995 and focused on household innovations, including interactive television and energy-efficient dishwashers. Today Living Tomorrow has a wider remit. Visitors to the new site can see what offices, shops, banks and cars might look like in the very near future.

But as with the other three projects, a tour starts with tomorrow’s home. Innovation starts on the doorstep, with a fingerprint sensor instead of a keyhole. A built-in digital camera will also take a photo of anyone who turns up at the house, so homeowners can check nothing untoward happened while they were away.

A very spacious and shiny kitchen/dining room has discreet buttons to control the scent and lighting at dinner parties. A touch-screen built into a cupboard front allows you to check the weather forecast, or buy and sell a few stocks and shares, while the pasta boils.

Despite the cutting-edge technology, the future today actually looks rather old-fashioned. A pod-shaped child’s bed, for example, is decidedly retro, while the jacuzzi on the terrace could come straight out of a 1960s spy movie. The designers have played up this combination of the excitingly new and the reassuringly familiar by leaving a few James Bond-style bottles of spirits and cocktail glasses dotted around the rooms, even at the side of the bed in a glamorous flat for a granny.

But reflecting very modern sensibilities, the Vilvoorde project also takes care to prove its environmental credentials. Clever insulation and light-sensitive window panels reduce energy use, the walls are solvent-free and the wood used all comes from sustainable sources.

Most of the household innovations are ready to come onto the market. Which means that all those touring the project who decide they cannot live without a sun bed built into their shower, or a mirror that plays music, can ask the project managers to put them in touch with the producers.

The bank, shop and office of the future are at a less developed stage. Much office work, it is assumed, will in the future take place at home, so the display focuses on emerging computer technologies.

A bank loyalty card and more fingerprint sensors could do away with traditional cash cards in the future, but for now ING bank is asking for public feedback on a huge interactive model cash dispenser.

Supermarket chain Delhaize, meanwhile, hopes that shoppers will be able soon to send food orders from their home computer and then, using a loyalty card, collect a trolley with the order list already programmed in. The trolley will also recommend wine to accompany whatever food has been chosen. For anyone feeling too lazy or confused to choose their own food in the first place, Delhaize also plans to offer a selection of food packs containing all the ingredients for a three-course meal, and instructions explaining what to do with them.

Living Tomorrow opens today (1 March). A selection of visitors will be asked to provide feedback on the ideas they see, all of which will be fed back to the relevant manufacturers via the 60-strong Living Tomorrow team.

Leaving the rest of us free to decide what we’ll be spending our savings on in a few years’ time.

‘Living Tomorrow’ offers a glimpse of a bright new world in an industrial outpost of Vilvoorde, a few kilometres outside Brussels.