DDW: The Philips Microbial Home

At this year’s Dutch Design Week, electronics manufacturer Philips is presenting the Microbial Home – a domestic ecosystem examining sustainable solutions for energy, waste and food preservation in the home.

The system consists of a series of modules, including a plastic waste up-cycler, an apothecary, an urban beehive and a larder. The kitchen’s central hub is the bio-digester island, which includes a chopping surface and a gas cooking range. The island is able to convert bathroom and kitchen waste into methane gas that can be used to power other devices in the home. The apothecary provides a home health monitoring system that constantly analyses your body looking for symptoms of disease and providing remedial advice and treatment.

“We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, how homes consume energy and how communities can pool resources,” says Clive van Heerden, senior director of design-led innovation at Philips Design.

Philips Design