Friday, April 07, 2006
FUTURISTIC MOBILE HOMES
This is a picture of GMC's new concept truck—combination vehicle and residence—for Los Angeles called the "PAD." It is basically envisioned by General Motors’ designers as "an urban loft with mobility". While cars.com gives this an official "zero chance of production", the Institute for the Future (IFTF) sees it as a lot more realistic vision of the future than it may at first appear.
While some may perceive PAD as a culmination of America’s fascination with SUVs, IFTF’s Technology Horizons program which is focusing its research this year on the theme of "lightweight infrastructure, considers this as a viable lightweight alternative to the traditional home or apartment. Moreover, if the concept embodied by PAD really caught on, IFTF predicts the emergence of temporary cities; ushering in a whole new form of urbanism based on nomadism and reconfigurable cities.
These new infrastructure designs, according to IFTF, will emphasize smaller, smarter, more independent components that can be organized in ways that are more efficient, more flexible, and more secure than the capital-intensive networks of the 20th century. Lightweight infrastructure will allow urban planners to rapidly prototype new forms of settlement as needs and constraints shift from day to day.
Talk about trailer parks the size of a city!
The Institute for the Future is a non-profit research organization located in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1968, the Institute conducts basic research on the futures of emerging technologies, health, and global business trends. It also works with clients on targeted research projects.
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Labels: innovations
posted by Señor Enrique at 11:08 AM
3 Comments:
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said... Whoah! Cool! Parang galing ng Star Wars. Tsk tsk, the future is now, tama nga si Alvin Toffler sa libro niyang Future Shock, nagsisimula na ang pagdating ng mobile at modular homes, para sa mga mobile citizens ng super-industrialism.
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said...
Amazing. This concepr car looks like Shaquille O'Neal's basketball shoe! Dandy car to have for sure but I'm quite sure the price would be dandy as well. I wonder when they would roll this baby out to the public.
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RAV Jr said... wow, this is nice... but this kind of mobile home will not survive in the Philippines =) leave it for 2 minutes and you'll be confused if you had it parked or not, hehehe
Dops
