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Xanadu House (pronounced “ZAN-uh-du”) started as a novel architectural project in the late 1970s, and eventually led to the construction of three similar homes in Kissimmee, Florida, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. All three were built with polyurethane insulation foam rather than concrete, for easy, fast, and cost-effective construction. The Xanadu Houses were built to showcase how computers could be used in the home to carry out automated tasks, and became popular visitor attractions during the 1980s. The Wisconsin Dells and Gatlinburg houses were closed and demolished in the early 1990s; the Kissimmee Xanadu House was closed in 1996 and demolished in October 2005.

History

Before creating Xanadu House, Bob Masters designed and created inflatable balloons to be used in the construction of the house. Masters was an early pioneer in creating and living in houses built of rigid insulation. He was inspired by the "Kesinger House" in Denver, by architect Stan Nord Connolly, one of the earliest homes built from insulation . Masters built his first home in 1969 in two-and-a-half days during a blustery snowstorm, using the same methods later used to build Xanadu House. Masters was convinced that these dome-shaped homes built of foam could work for others, so he decided to create a series of show homes around the country. Masters’s business partner Tom Gussel chose the name "Xanadu" for the homes, a reference to Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan’s summer residence Xanadu, which is prominently featured in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem Kubla Khan.

Architect Roy Mason, prior to his involvement in the creation of Xanadu House, created an “experimental school” on a hill in Virginia which was also a foam structure similar to Xanadu House. Before creating Xanadu House, Mason and Masters were influenced by other houses and building concepts which emphasized ergonomics, usability, and energy efficiency. These included apartments designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa featuring detachable building modules. In addition, some of the more significant designs included a floating habitat made of fiberglass designed by Jacques Beufs for living on water surfaces, and also concepts for living underwater by architect Jacques Rougerie. 50 years before Xanadu House, another "House of Tomorrow" at the Century Progress Exposition in Chicago introduced air conditioning, forced air heating, circuit breakers, electric eye doors, and other innovative features.

Architect Mason believed Xanadu House would alter the way people thought about houses: as little more than inanimate, passive shelters against the elements. "No one's really looked at the house as a total organic system," said Mason, who was also the architecture editor of 'The Futurist magazine'. "The house can have intelligence and each room can have intelligence."

The estimated cost of construction for one home was $300,000. Roy Mason also planned for an even lower cost home of only $80,000, to show that homes using computers do not have to be expensive, but it was never built.

The end of Xanadu

By the early 90s, it was clear that the Xanadu homes were failing to become successful visitor attractions. The technology used in the Xanadu Houses was quickly becoming obsolete. In the early 1990s the houses in Wisconsin and Tennessee were demolished, while the Xanadu House in Kissimmee lived on until 2005.

The Kissimmee house did not endure the elements well, suffering greatly from mold and mildew throughout the interior. The basement flooded with brownish water approximately a foot deep; in the basement were the utilities which controlled the electric and microcomputers. In October 2005, the last house was demolished, following years of abandonment and use by the homeless.

Design

Xanadu House was ergonomically designed, with future occupants in mind. It used curved walls; painted concrete floors rather than carpets; a light color scheme featuring cool colors throughout the house; and rooms are linked together without doors, but rather open spaces.

Its curved, modular exterior was reminiscent of a UFO, because it consisted of domed pods built by spraying polyurethane foam onto removable molds. Xanada House featured white painted walls, a communications pole, an outside public toilet, and a lake. Xanadu House had at least two entrances, very large windows, and porthole-type windows in the roof. The interior of Xanadu was cave-like, featuring curved walls, rounded porthole windows in the ceiling, cramped rooms, and low ceilings. The interior used a cream color for the walls, and a pale green for the floor. At the center of the house was the living room, in which a false tree supported the roof.

Construction

Construction of the Xanadu house in Kissimmee, Florida, began with the pouring of a concrete slab base and the erection of a tension ring 40 feet in diameter to anchor the domed roof of what would become the "Great Room" of the house. A pre-shaped vinyl balloon was formed and attached to the ring, and then inflated by air pressure from large fans. Once the form was fully inflated, its interior surface was sprayed with quick-hardening polyurethane plastic foam. Spraying from the inside permitted work to continue even in wet or windy weather. The foam, produced by the sudden mixture of two chemicals that expand on contact to 30 times their original volume, hardens almost instantly. Repeated spraying produces a five-to-six-inch-thick structurally sound shell within a few hours. Once the foam cures, the plastic balloon form is removed to be used again. Once the second dome has been completed and the balloon form removed, the two rooms are joined together by wire mesh which is also sprayed with foam to form a connecting gallery or hall. This process is repeated until the house is complete. Window, skylight, and door openings are cut and the frames foamed into place. Finally, the interior of the entire structure is sprayed with a 3/4 inch coating of fireproof material that also provides a smooth, easy-to-clean finish for walls and ceilings. The exterior is given a coat of white elastomeric paint as the final touch.

Xanadu House tour

Xanadu House was built as a visitor attraction; visitors followed an electronic tour guide of the house, featuring constantly changing computer-graphics art shows on video screens in the family room. Displays in the master bedroom instructed people about security and fire systems in the house.

Many features of the house were functional, such as the jacuzzi, fountain, and television. Due to the lack of sufficiently powerful and affordable computers in the 1980s, many features did not work, and many parts of the house were nonfunctional.

Using computers in the home

Xanadu House used an automated system controlled by Commodore microcomputers. The kitchen, party room, health spa, and bedrooms all used computers and other electronics equipment heavily in their design. For example, the bath could be filled with water at a set temperature on a specific date and time. The automation concepts which Xanadu House used are based on original ideas conceived in the 1950s and earlier. Xanadu House aimed to bring the original concepts into a finished and working implementation.

Xanadu's main features included:

• Electronic hearth featuring a TV set, games console, sound system, VCR, and other electronic equipment
• Automated Kitchen including tele-shopping and housekeeping capabilities
• Family room with several television sets to watch multiple channels at once
• Outside telecommunications antenna
• Computer-controlled heating
• Controlled electricity and gas usage

Kitchen

Xanadu House's kitchen was automated, much like the rest of the house. Meals could be cooked automatically at a set date and time. If new food was required, it could either be obtained via tele-shopping through the computer system or from Xanadu House's greenhouse. The kitchen's computer could also be used for the household calendar, records, and home bookkeeping.

Work at home

The Xanadu homes suggested a way to do business at home with the office room and the use of computers for electronic mail, access to stock and commodities trading, and news services.

Master Bedroom

Computers in the bedroom allowed the user to control other parts of the house. This eliminated chores such as having to go downstairs to turn off the coffee pot after one had gone to bed.

Children's Bedroom

The children's bedroom featured the latest in teaching microcomputers and "videotexture" windows, whose realistic computer-generated landscapes could shift in a flash from scenes of real places anywhere in the world to imaginary scenes. The beds at the right of the room retreat into the wall to save space and cut down on clutter; the study niches were just the right size for curling up all alone with a pocket computer game or a book.

Great room

The great room was the largest room in the entire Xanadu home, and included a fountain, small television set, and a video projector. Nearby was the dining area, featuring a glass table with a curved seat surrounding half the table; behind the seats was a large window covering the entire wall.

Family room

The family room featured video screens and other electronic equipment covering the walls. The builders called the entertainment center an "electronic hearth". It was planned as a gathering place for family members and relatives, just as is a traditional hearth with a fireplace.

House Spa

In the spa, people could relax in a whirlpool, sun sauna, and environmentally-controlled habitat, and even exercise with the help of spa monitors.

Security

One of the advantages of using computers in the home includes security. In Xanadu House, a HAL-type voice would speak when someone entered to make the intruder think someone was home.

Disadvantages

An initial concern was that the cost of electricity would be excessive, since several computers would be running all day, all year. However, Mason figured that a central computer could control the energy consumption of all the other computers in the house. Many believed using computers in the home was a disadvantage, because if the computer fails, occupants would be restricted from getting food, having a bath, and even leaving the house if doors are locked. Many also resisted the concept of computers in the home because of concerns people would become less social. Those in favour argued that computers improved security and helped get household chores such as cleaning done quickly.

Many disliked Xanadu House as a practical home because of its low ceilings, curved walls, and cramped rooms.

Reaction

Shortly after the Xanadu Houses were built and opened as visitor attractions, tourism companies began to advertise them as the "home of the future" in brochures encouraging people to visit the futuristic home. While the majority of people who visited a Xanadu House felt at ease because of the organic design, others felt that the concept was not viable because it was badly affected by the weather. Other architects and designers saw Xanadu House as an unprofessional architectural design because of the materials used, and the odd use of colors and shapes inside the home. Designers continued to build conventionally-shaped homes, dismissing Xanadu House as an unsuccessful concept.

Xanadu book

A book about Xanadu House and computerized homes in general was written by Roy Mason with Lane Jennings and Robert Evans, and was published by Acropolis Books in November 1983. The book explained how computers can be used in the home, including many concepts in use today. The book was titled "Xanadu: The Computerized Home of Tomorrow and How It Can Be Yours Today!" and is still available from Amazon in used condition. The book also includes an interview with Bob Masters, the creator of Xanadu.

Book contents:

• Introduction
• Homes in the future
• The electronic heart
• The house brain
• The dawn of electro house
• The building of Xanadu
• Easy to read instructions
• Batteries not included
• Glossary

See also

• Architecture
• House
• Visitor attraction
• Tourism

Notes

1. Details on the demolition of Xanadu in October, 2005

References

• Tom Halfhill. Using Computers in the Home (Compute Magazine Article, December 1982)
• Catherine O'Neil Computers Those Amazing Machines (Book, 1985), Page 90, 92. (Computing the Future) ISBN 087044574X
• Roy Mason, Lane Jennings, Robert Evans. Xanadu: The Computerized Home of Tomorrow and How It Can Be Yours Today! (Book, November 1 1983 ) ISBN 0874917018

External links

• 1982 Compute Magazine Article "Using Computers in the Home"
• Xanadu, Home of the Future Discussions
• Xanadu : Home of the future
• Kissimmee's Xanadu articles
• Photos and more Information
• Xanadu Photo Gallery from 1998 Photos of Xanadu in its glory days of the 1980's.
• Kissimmee's Xanadu as of 2004 Urban Explorers photos of Xanadu in 2004.

• Houses