"What will the connected home of the future look like? The Internet of Things market is expected to grow to $1.7 trillion by 2020. To seize this enormous opportunity, Local Projects was asked to design a store demonstrating how these devices will change the world. The result was Target Open House, an unprecedented l retail space in downtown San Francisco more focused on educating and engaging than selling. Our concept centered on transparency, giving visitors x-ray vision to see through the walls of a home and understand how products worked together.
The centerpiece of the store is translucent model home built entirely from laser-cut acrylic. Transparent acrylic furniture appeared in every room, replete with detailed facades inspired by San Francisco's famed own Painted Ladies. The back walls of each room were covered in a light-absorbent projection film that turned each wall into a responsive screen-like surface. As visitors enter the house, motion detectors trigger greetings from the smart products in each room. Visitors can also select from a series of vignettes that tell the stories of connected products working together to solve problems from baby care to burglaries.
Each story was generated with live code instead of video, so the products came to life as each story played out, from blasting a Sonos speaker at full-volume to scare off a burglar, to changing the colors on a Hue LED lightbulb to soothe a baby?s cries. Concept, software design and installation of Open House were completed in under six months, and was fabricated entirely by CNC machining and 3D printing. The store is now a permanent fixture in downtown San Francisco."