Meta Kitchen

KitchenWe're currently in the midst of constructing a two-storey extension and I thought I'd get some kitchen ideas from budget DIY icons, MFI.

Using MFI's online planning tool, I only needed to enter some basic room dimensions, indicate positions of doors and windows and select some appliances...the software then filled in the remaining spaces with wall and floor units. Twenty minutes later, I was presented with a bunch of elevations, a floor plan, parts list and a number of very cool 3D visualisations; here are the results.

Designed by Planit.com, the Shockwave based planning wizard is a little clunky, but the results are actually pretty good and help take a lotta pain out of designing your kitchen as well as giving you some idea of its cost and complexity. Unfortunately, the bathroom designer didn't fare as well. This may my own fault, in trying to squeeze a toilet and sink into a 0.95 x 1.6m space...

What'd be really interesting is a participatory layer...

  • Could user's share and geolocate their creations for others with similar home layouts?
  • Is there potential here for some value of shared value and revenue generation?
  • Ten years after a user submits and purchases a design, approach them again with a suggested overhaul.
  • Market to customers with a portfolio of designs illustrating how your home could look...

Next step? A Second Life showroom ;)

Augmented Reality

PlaneAugmented Reality, Mixed Reality or AR, applications are nothing new, institutions such as MIT Media Lab have been developing various innovations in this field for many years. However, Total Immersion's D'fusion technology is one fo the first examples of productised AR technology; incidentally now being employed by companies such as BMW.

Total Immersion was one of last year's DEMOgods at the annual DEMO event in Scottsdale, Arizona. Their five-minute demo was a stunning example of AR principles and a playful showcase of their technology.

  • See a Windows Media clip of the DEMOgod demo here...
  • Download the D'fusion AR whitepaper here...

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