The future of Connected homes 

In Collaboration with AT&T

 

Background

AT&T’s innovation labs in Palo Alto, CA, worked with ChangeLabs to create a vision and strategy for a game-changing intervention to influence people's behaviors through the concept of "a more connected home."

 

INTENT

Homes are changing fast. Walls are disappearing; Internet connectivity, large format TVs, lighting control systems, energy monitoring systems, and technologies such as smart thermostats are changing behaviors in spaces and increasing people's ecological footprint.


The average suburban home is not the standard model for growth in future real estate and the lives that are shaped by it. We spend a significant amount of time in our homes, but over the decades, we have lost a sense of community -- our sense of place. Home lives are gradually blending with work lives. Our mental model of a home is still a static one, despite the degree to which our lives are spent in transit, in the digital space, and connecting with people through communication means.

 

 

IMPACT GOALS

The main goals of this project were to design the concepts, strategies, and tangible interventions to transform the home, drive behavior change to influence a better sense of community, reduce the ecological footprint, and enable a deeper sense of meaning in people's lives. 

 

 

APPROACH 

The team focused on designing innovative business models, while leveraging cloud-computing and sensor technology. This was a scaled intervention that included a novel concept, strategy, and a plan to increase value from a social, economic and environmental front.