Find out what's in store as integrated living reshapes our built environment.
Integrated living is the way of the future for our homes. We look at some of the ways you will be able to create a smart house. Integrated living is starting to make inroads into the luxury end of the house design spectrum and industry insiders say that some degree of home automation could soon be the norm.

Communications
•    The technology is now available to communicate hands free via digital networks between different rooms of the house, the front gate or the other side of the world.
•    Modern home automation systems are essentially based on laying down a communications network, then running your other household electrics via that network.

Security
Closed circuit TV (CCTV) cameras that can be accessed from any video monitor in the house are available. The homeowner can identify any visitors or service personnel and admit them to the property at the touch of a button.
In the not-too-distant future, you'll be able to leave the house and activate your entire alarm system through a single voice command.

Home entertainment
Your entire music collection can now be saved to one hard drive. From there it can be transmitted to and controlled in different rooms of the house simultaneously.
At the push of a button, your television program can be paused and shifted to another room of the house; or the system switched to CCTV, allowing the viewer to communicate with someone at the front door.

Lighting
Home automation allows you to reach over to a touch screen control panel and switch any lights in your house on or off.

Climate control
•    With thermostatically controlled inbuilt heating and cooling appliances you can maintain a constant temperature in your house, day and night, without ever having to switch a heater or air conditioner on or off.
•    These appliances can also be run through a home automation cabling system. Therefore, if you're going on holidays and decide that only the wine cellar needs to be kept at a constant temperature, you can simply adjust the system at the same control panel where you set the alarm and turn off the lights.

The kitchen
•    You can already put a roast in the oven as you leave for work and have it on the table fifteen minutes after you get home. All you need to do is program the system to switch on at the right time and head out for the day.

The bathroom
•    Showers that recognise individual users and produce a jet of water at exactly the right temperature and pressure have some popularity in Europe.
•    Sensor taps are increasingly common in nightspots and public facilities but are yet to make it into the home in a big way. They make good hygienic sense as well as being water wise. They operate on an infrared beam, only turning on when the beam is interrupted.
•    At the cutting edge are features such as shower partitions with multimedia displays built in, automatic bath temperature control, exhaust fans activated by humidity and temperature sensors; and towel rails which will sense how wet a towel is and quickly dry it out.