The exterior of the Xanadu House in Kissimmee, Florida in 1994

The Xanadu Houses were a series of experimental homes built to showcase examples of computers and automation in the home in the United States. The architectural project began in 1979, and during the early 1980s three houses were built in different parts of the United States: one each in Kissimmee, Florida; Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The houses included novel construction and design techniques, and became popular tourist attractions during the 1980s. The name Xanadu is widespread and used for many subjects. ... Image File history File links The exterior (outside) on the Xanadu home near Orlando, Florida in its glory days of the 1980s. ... Image File history File links The exterior (outside) on the Xanadu home near Orlando, Florida in its glory days of the 1980s. ... Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida, United States. ... An experimental home is a home with new design and/or function in order to improve living conditions. ... This article is about the machine. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida, United States. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Florida. ... Location of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Lower Dells Intersection between Downtown & The Strip Wisconsin Dells is a city located in south-central Wisconsin, in the United States. ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Largest metro area Greater Milwaukee Area  Ranked 23rd  - Total 65,498 sq mi (169,790 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 310 miles (500 km)  - % water 17  - Latitude 42° 30′ N to 47° 05′ N  - Longitude 86° 46′ W to... Gatlinburg is a city in Sevier County, Tennessee, with a total population of 3,828, as of the 2000 U.S. census. ... This article is about the U.S. state of Tennessee. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The Xanadu Houses were notable for being built with polyurethane insulation foam rather than concrete, for easy, fast, and cost-effective construction. They were ergonomically designed, and contained some of the earliest home automation systems. The Kissimmee Xanadu, designed by Roy Mason, was the most popular, and at its peak was attracting 1000 visitors every day. 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. A polyurethane is any polymer consisting of a chain of organic units joined by urethane links. ... This article is about the construction material. ... Ergonomics (or human factors) is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects, systems and environment for human use (definition adopted by the International Ergonomics Association in 2007). ... Light control computerized system Home automation (also called domotics) is a field within building automation, specializing in the specific automation requirements of private homes and in the application of automation techniques for the comfort and security of its residents. ... Roy Mason with a model of the Xanadu home Roy Mason (birth date unknown - 1996) was a lecturer, writer and futuristic architect who designed and built a variety of futuristic homes and other buildings in the 1970s and 1980s using low cost materials and alternative energy sources. ...

History

Roy Mason with a clay model prototype design of the Xanadu House

Bob Masters, who conceived the Xanadu House concept, was an early pioneer in creating and living in houses built of rigid insulation. Before creating Xanadu House, Masters designed and created inflatable balloons to be used in the construction of the house. 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 the Xanadu houses. 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.^[1] "Xanadu" is also the name of the palace in the movie Citizen Kane. Image File history File links The architect Roy Mason showing his model of the Xanadu home. ... Image File history File links The architect Roy Mason showing his model of the Xanadu home. ... Nickname: Location of Denver in Colorado Location of Colorado in the United States Coordinates: , Country State Founded [1] November 22, 1858 Incorporated November 7, 1861 Government  - Type Strong Mayor/Weak Council  - Mayor John Hickenlooper (D) Area [1]  - City & County  154. ... For other uses, see Kublai Khan (disambiguation). ... This article is about the summer capital of Kublai Khans empire. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) (pronounced ) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and one of the Lake Poets. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Citizen Kane is a 1941 mystery/drama film released by RKO Pictures and directed by Orson Welles, his first feature film. ...

The first Xanadu House was located in Wisconsin Dells. It was designed by architect Stewart Gordon in 1979, and was created by Bob Masters. It was 4,000 square feet in area, and featured a geodesic greenhouse. In its first summer, 100,000 people visited the new attraction.^[2]

The most popular Xanadu house was the second house, designed by architect Roy Mason. Masters had met Mason at a futures conference in Toronto in 1980. Mason had worked on a similar project prior to his involvement in the creation of the Kissimmee Xanadu House — an “experimental school” on a hill in Virginia which was also a foam structure. Both Mason and Masters were influenced by other experimental houses and building concepts which emphasized ergonomics, usability, and energy efficiency. These included apartments designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa featuring detachable building modules and more significant designs including a floating habitat made of fiberglass designed by Jacques Beufs for living on water surfaces, concepts for living underwater by architect Jacques Rougerie and the Don Metz house built in the 1970s which took advantage of the earth as insulation. Fifty years before Xanadu House, another the 1933 Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago introduced air conditioning, forced air heating, circuit breakers, electric eye doors^{[citation needed]}, and other innovative features. Roy Mason with a model of the Xanadu home Roy Mason (birth date unknown - 1996) was a lecturer, writer and futuristic architect who designed and built a variety of futuristic homes and other buildings in the 1970s and 1980s using low cost materials and alternative energy sources. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Entrance to the Nagoya City Art Museum The Nakagin Capsule Tower Kurokawa Kisho (In Japanese, family name first: 黒川 紀章, Kurokawa, Kisho)(b. ... The Don Metz house Don Metz is an architect best know for his earth-integrated house that was built in the 1970s to take advantage of the earth as insulation. ... Flier from the Good Housekeeping Stran-Steel Home tour The Homes of Tomorrow Exhibition was part of the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair. ... A 1933 Century of Progress worlds fair poster The Century of Progress International Exposition was a Worlds Fair held in Chicago, Illinois from 1933-1934 to celebrate Chicagos centennial. ...

Mason believed Xanadu House would alter people's views of 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 a low cost version which would cost $80,000, to show that homes using computers do not have to be expensive. The low cost Xanadu was never built.

The Walt Disney Company opened EPCOT Center in Florida on October 1, 1982 (originally envisioned as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). Masters and Mason decided to open a Xanadu House several miles away in Kissimmee. It eventually opened in 1983, after several years of research into the concepts Xanadu would use. It was over 6,000 square feet in size, considerably larger than the average house because it was built as a showcase. At its peak in the mid 1980s, more than 1,000 people were visiting the new Kissimmee attraction every day. A third Xanadu House was built in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.^[3] 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.^[4] Disney redirects here. ... This article is about the Epcot theme park. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Florida. ... is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... An artists conception of what EPCOT would look like as originally planned. ... Tourist redirects here. ... Advert redirects here. ...

By the early 1990s, the Xanadu houses began to lose popularity because the technology they used was quickly becoming obsolete, and as a result the houses in Wisconsin and Tennessee were demolished, while the Xanadu House in Kissimmee continued to operate as a public visitor attraction until it was closed in 1996. It was consequently put up for sale in 1997 and was sold for office and storage use. By 2001 the Kissimmee house had suffered greatly from mold and mildew throughout the interior due to a lack of maintenance since being used as a visitor attraction, it was put up for sale again for an asking price of US$2 million. By October 2005, the last of the Xanadu houses had been demolished, following years of abandonment and use by the homeless. A condominium is planned for the Xanadu tract.^[5]

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, and an open-floor plan linking rooms together without the use of doors. The modular exterior was reminiscent of a UFO, as the domes were built by spraying polyurethane foam onto removable molds. Xanadu House featured white painted walls, a communications pole, an outside public toilet, and a lake. It had at least two entrances, and large porthole-type windows. The interior of Xanadu was cave-like, featuring 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 large false tree supported the roof, and also acted as part of the built-in heating system. UFO can mean: Unidentified flying object United Future Organization, a Japanese-Brazilian electronic jazz band UFO, the rock band that previously featured Michael Schenker UFO, the Gerry Anderson TV series United Farmers of Ontario, a political party that formed the government in Ontario from 1919 to 1923 U.F.O... A polyurethane is any polymer consisting of a chain of organic units joined by urethane links. ... Copy of the original phone of Alexander Graham Bell at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris Telecommunication is the assisted transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ...

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, hardened almost instantly. Repeated spraying produced a five-to-six-inch-thick structurally sound shell within a few hours. Once the foam cured, the plastic balloon form was removed to be used again. Once the second dome was completed and the balloon form removed, the two rooms were joined together by wire mesh which was also sprayed with foam to form a connecting gallery or hall. This process was repeated until the house was complete. Window, skylight, and door openings were cut and the frames foamed into place. Finally, the interior of the entire structure was sprayed with a 3/4 inch coating of fireproof material that also provided a smooth, easy-to-clean finish for walls and ceilings. The exterior was given a coat of white elastomeric paint as the final touch.^[6] Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida, United States. ...

Interior

The Xanadu Houses used an automated system controlled by Commodore microcomputers. The houses had 15 rooms each, of these 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. The Xanadu Houses aimed to bring the original concepts into a finished and working implementation. As visitors followed an electronic tour guide of the house, featuring constantly changing computer-graphics art shows on video screens in the family room, they learned about the different advantages and features of the Xanadu House including the security and fire systems. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was an American electronics company based in West Chester, Pennsylvania which was a vital player in the home/personal computer field in the 1980s. ... The Commodore 64 was one of the most popular microcomputers of its era, and is the best selling model of home computer of all time. ... The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... Tour may mean: Concert tour, series of performances in different markets Tourism, travel for pleasure James Tour, nanoscientist Le Tour de France, the worlds biggest bicycle race This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

The kitchen in Xanadu in the early '90s.

Children using a computer in the master bedroom.

A child and her mother in the family room playing.

The main features of the Xanadu House design included an "electronic hearth" featuring a television, games console, sound system, VCR and other electronics equipment, an automated kitchen including tele-shopping and housekeeping capabilities, a family room with several television sets to watch multiple channels at once, a telecommunications antenna, computer-controlled heating and computer-controlled electricity and gas usage.^[7] Image File history File links The kitchen of the Xanadu home. ... Image File history File links The kitchen of the Xanadu home. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (850x555, 481 KB)One of the bedrooms inside Xanadu. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (850x555, 481 KB)One of the bedrooms inside Xanadu. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (850x556, 535 KB)The family room inside Xanadu. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (850x556, 535 KB)The family room inside Xanadu. ...

Xanadu House's kitchen was automated by "autochef", an electronic dietitian which planned well-balanced meals. 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's own greenhouse. The kitchen's computer terminal could also be used for the household calendar, records, and home book keeping.^[8]

The Xanadu homes also 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. In economics, a business is a legally-recognized organizational entity existing within an economically free country designed to sell goods and/or services to consumers, usually in an effort to generate profit. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

Computers in the master bedroom allowed for other parts of the house to be controlled. This eliminated chores such as having to go downstairs to turn off the coffee pot after one had gone to bed. 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 retreated 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.^[9][10]

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 room, featuring a glass table with a curved seat surrounding it; behind the seats was a large window covering the entire wall. The family room featured television monitors 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.^[7] The worlds highest fountain: King Fahds Fountain in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Three traditional fountain features: a low jet, a pair of raised basins, and sculpture with a water theme, here hippocamps (Villa Borghese, Rome) A traditional fountain is an arrangement where water issues from a source (Latin fons... Projected image from a video projector in a home cinema. ... This article is about the engineering discipline. ... This page discusses common devices known as tools, for other meanings see Tool (disambiguation) Modern hammer A tool is, among other things, a device that provides a mechanical or mental advantage in accomplishing a task. ... A home entertainment center (or home entertaiment console) is a piece of furniture seen in many homes in North America, which houses major electronic items, such as a television set, a VCR and/or DVD player, stereo components (such as an AM/FM tuner, multi-disc compact disc changer, record... Winter (fireplace), tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (XIV century) A fireplace is an architectural element consisting of a space designed to contain a fire, generally for heating but sometimes also for cooking. ...

In the spa, people could relax in a whirlpool, sun sauna, and environmentally-controlled habitat, and even exercise with the help of spa monitors. 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. HAL 9000 (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer) is a fictional character in Arthur C. Clarkes Space Odyssey saga. ...

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 failed, 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 favor argued that computers improved security and helped get household chores such as cleaning done quickly. Electricity (from New Latin Ä“lectricus, amberlike) is a general term for a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. ...

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. Many disliked Xanadu House as a practical home because of its low ceilings, curved walls, and cramped rooms. This article is about the built environment. ...

Xanadu in print

A book about Xanadu House entitled Xanadu: The Computerized Home of Tomorrow and How It Can Be Yours Today! and written by Roy Mason, Lane Jennings and Robert Evans was published by Acropolis Books in November 1983. The book explains how computers can be used in the home, including many concepts in use today such as integrated media centers, televisions and sound systems; it also describes how the Xanadu Houses were designed and constructed, including interviews with Bob Masters. The book includes several photos of the Xanadu Houses, and discusses several other similar examples of architecture that used rigid insulation or an automated computer system. This article is about media centers in general. ... Sound system has multiple meanings: A sound reinforcement system is a system for amplifying, reproducing, and sometimes recording audio. ...

See also

• Architecture
• House
• House of Innovation
• Visitor attraction
• Tourism
• Monolithic dome
• Xanadu 2.0
• Smart House- a Disney Channel Original Movie that involved a similar type house and many fears that also came with the Xanadu house.

This article is about building architecture. ... For other uses, see House (disambiguation). ... House of Innovation is an experimental showcase house, opened on September 8, 2006 in Alamo, California. ... A Visitor attraction is a place that primarily, or as a side-effect of its main purpose, caters for visitors, be they tourists, day-trippers or those on an educational mission. ... Tourist redirects here. ... A monolithic dome is a structure built from polyurethane foam, rebar and concrete. ... Bill Gates house as seen from Lake Washington Bill Gates house is a large earth-sheltered mansion in the side of a hill overlooking Lake Washington in Medina, Washington. ... Smart House is a Disney Channel Original Movie about a young computer whiz (Ryan Merriman), his widowed father, and little sister, who win a computerized house that begins to take on a life of its own — the life of an overbearing mother (Katey Sagal). ...

Notes

Roy Mason with a model of the Xanadu home Roy Mason (birth date unknown - 1996) was a lecturer, writer and futuristic architect who designed and built a variety of futuristic homes and other buildings in the 1970s and 1980s using low cost materials and alternative energy sources. ...

References

External links

• 1982 Compute Magazine Article "Using Computers in the Home"
• Xanadu : Home of the future
• Xanadu - Demolished October 7–10, 2005 — 2005 photos of the demolished Xanadu
• 3 minute Xanadu video showing the Xanadu tour (QuickTime movie)
• The Dilbert Ultimate House, a very similar project
• JETSETMODERN's picture