Where is the future before it is here?

I'm not a futurist. It's all I can do to pay half attention to the present, with the past on a back-burner for necessary retrieval; any philosophizing about alternate planes of existence or refashioned environments cracks my concentration completely. But despite this, the Open House exhibit currently at Art Center College of Design really impressed me. Originally shown at Germany's Vitra Design Museum, the show presents visions of future living spaces and communities, including historical entries like Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion house and a series of current proposals. Text on computer print-outs taped to one wall frame the show, suggesting "we often find ourselves living in yesterday's future." It challenges the visitor to engage in the process of exploring more fluid, organic and functional relationships between human beings and their homes and communities. My favorite passage asks:

Can there be a future without a re-examination of the past? Can there be a future without a negotiation of the present? In a world instantly online and mobile, how should we understand both the "where" and the "here" of "Where is the future before it is here?" What if futurity occurs off-grid, a luxury option only available to a few?

The Jellyfish House (Design Team: Iwamoto/Scott/Proces2)

Of the contemporary projects, the Jellyfish House was one of my favorites. Photos and models don't illustrate it effectively -- you have to see the conceptual video to really get it. As the climate changes, the walls move from opaque to transluscent, bringing views of the marshy Bay Area exterior into focus: a sailboat passing, the San Francisco skyline, the quiet tall grass. Is it possible? I have no idea. But it was magical watching a wall disappear to reveal the sea, carrying a sailboat.

Open the House! (Design Team: realities:united)

Another fave was Open the House!, which imagines homes freed up from their current task of maintaining an artificial climate for inhabitants -- because people will wear extra-special climate-control garments to regulate their environments. Roofs and walls become optional design elements, and household and community activities are no longer relegated to interior cells.

Seeing these models, I realized the future is already happening off-grid for some people. And they send keepsakes back for us to admire.