“For many years I have been working on the transformation of home automation systems”, says the Milanese designer. “With the latest generation systems, in fact, all domestic spaces can be easily and completely managed: from lights to entrance surveillance, from irrigation to heating and cooling, up to solar shading. With interfaces that are increasingly easier to use. Many customers ask us to be able to remotely manage different lighting scenarios and alarms, closures and thermoregulation”.

According to La Viola, the passion for high-tech homes is due to very practical reasons: in short, the possibility of changing and evolving our homes tailored to our needs. “With traditional systems”, explains the architect, “people lived in irreversible conditions. Contemporary home automation systems, on the other hand, allow with simple gestures to modify and update the most diverse scenarios, and this strongly affects the spaces”.

Interfaces also change

Voice commands, for example, are increasingly popular. With a smart speaker it is now possible to manage lighting, compatible appliances, temperatures and energy consumption, audio and the security of all accesses to the home. Programming different scenarios for the moments of the day or for longer periods.

Our homes are also entertainment spaces where maximum flexibility is needed: from study to living and entertainment area, from bedroom to study area, from living room to office. A room dedicated to reading that changes function can be simply redesigned by the light by programming the scenario.

Devices and architecture, parallel convergences

How to mediate the pervasive presence of these systems with the design of spaces, finishes and details? “The interfaces, today, have a very pleasant design: the screens are small, the IoT switches are very beautiful even for lines in low price ranges. All this allows them to be offered to a wider audience”.

A technology that coexists with even historical environments

Let’s forget about the hi-tech, cold and distant look. Home automation devices and interfaces are experimenting with a new language, no longer futuristic. “Extremely but also in a house like those designed by Renzo Mongiardino” confirms La Viola, “IoT switches and plates would have their own reason for being. It is right that they maintain their own identity that coexists with the aesthetics of the places that host them. Museums are an example of this: the most advanced and sophisticated technologies live in historical places coexisting perfectly. Technology is not invasive, it has found its way”.

Comfort goes digital

“The homeis our cradle, it must be made functional but so that we have more time to live. If we spend the time we earn immersed in a digital environment, we have missed the objective of applied technology”, continues the architect. “The emotion of a particular light, the reflection of some materials, the colors ... these are the things we do not want to lose, they are the details that create the soul of the house. The digital tsunami of the last year will make us appreciate the little things more and more, the tactility of the objects and spaces that surround us.

“The most important challenge of the job”, concludes La Viola, “ is to define the digitization of spaces without losing their soul. On the contrary, giving it a new interpretation. Helping clients to abandon the idea that technology is spectacular and instead should be interpreted as the real opportunity to better enjoy their home, in an atmosphere of absolute well-being”.