We never know what the future holds and given such volatile times, it has been both easy and hard to predict on what the future entails. One thing is for certain though technology has a big role to play on the future landscape of interior design industry. We sat down and discussed on what kind of technologies will we be seeing in the near future and how will it impact the interior design industry. For anyone that’s remotely close to this industry or has an interest in it, here’s what the future entails for interior design: 1. Smart Homes Smart homes concept has been introduced a while back in the market & our homes have never been more connected. Google home has already been in the market for a long time & has made it a reality to turn on/off television, lighting, heating & much more all through a personal assistant by speaking to your Google Home device. ‘Smart interiors’ is what’s upcoming & bringing a plethora of ideas and innovations into the market place. Take for example the Italian design company Tipic which is pioneering smart kitchen integrations with their revolutionary Tuler kitchen worktop. Built from a slab of quartz composite, the smart work surface includes a sink that appears as you wave your hand over a sensor. Wave again, the sink rises to the top creating the illusion of a perfectly flush uninterrupted work surface. The Tuler kitchen is working on creating some fantastic additions to the worktop by adding built in weighing scale and charging sensor for your smartphone. The result, Tipic says, should be seamless on the worktop. It’s not just in the kitchen or living room but also such technology can be implemented in the washroom where we can have a voice controlled shower or even a button that changes the view from the bedroom window. The possibilities are definitely endless! 2. 3D Printing 3D printing back in the day was an idea farfetched. However today we are at a stage where it has become accessible to almost anyone. Today 3D printing is efficient & exciting. Interior designers can quickly demonstrate their designs & allow their clients to touch and feel their ideas in miniature form. The time taken from conceptualization and implementation is greatly reduced as the client now has an idea on how the finished product/place will look & feel like. It is a win for both parties! 3. Virtual & Augmented Reality Virtual & Augmented reality has completely changed the landscape of the interior design industry. What used to be a tiring and cumbersome way of presenting to client which stretched on for weeks has now been cut back to a mere few days. The use of VR allows a user to completely immerse themselves in a different environment which allows a unique 360° user experience. Using software like Sketchup, V-Ray and 3Dsmax with VR technology, it is now possible to create actual scenarios where the person using it is immersed in their home, office, retail & F&B outlet or any other space, where the person is able to see how it will actually look & feel like. Gone will be the days for designers where they have to explain & build models in computer generated 3D designs to showcase the client on how it will look like. A person can now literally walk through various ideas and gauge for themselves on the size and dimension of furniture, ceiling & other accessories. Another sensation making the rounds is Augmented Reality. This allows the user to showcase the furniture or any other object on their smartphone device to overlay that design/product into the physical world with virtual elements. The ability to easily go through different designs and items from your smartphones and transmute them onto the physical world has been a major breakthrough and help for designers.