Building Made Better: They See The Future of Your House: Plastic

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The house of tomorrow will be made of soda bottles--that's how we best know the substance called PET, or polyethylene terephthalate. But architects Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake see a much different use for the plastic: embedded with flat circuitry that will enable walls to store heat, generate electricity and double as giant, flat-panel displays. Their iteration, called SmartWrap, could also make the building process faster and cheaper than ever.

The smarts in SmartWrap come from flat circuitry called OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes), which are tattooed onto the plastic by an ink-jet printer and can function either as a light source or a computer display. When used on an exterior wall, OLEDs could transform the look of your house in seconds. "You could have a blue house one day and a green house the next day," says Timberlake. "You could have a camouflage pattern or political signage." Insulation is provided by gel-filled pockets between two layers of SmartWrap; power can be supplied by solar cells and stored in thin-film batteries, which are also printed on.

Timberlake says SmartWrap evolved from the realization that "even though there has been an explosion of new materials and processes, only a small number of architects apply them." Because SmartWrap can be produced in bulk and individualized for any building, its inventors hope it will be more widely adopted by builders seeking a lightweight, flexible material.