Living in the future

When James Law wakes up in his Hong Kong apartment, the scene that greets him is not the ring of smog that often blankets the city, but a 15-metre wide panoramic view of a Thai beach, streamed in real time from a friend's beachfront home and projected to the walls of his apartment.

He selects what music he wants to hear by voice command; when he gets an e-mail, the colour of his walls changes to red. "When I get a phone call from my girlfriend it turns purple," said the 35-year-old architect and designer, who recently watched five games simultaneously on the walls of his home during the 2006 World Cup.

His furniture uses animatronics technology that can shape-shift from a bed into a couch "like a Transformer" says Law, referring to the popular line of Japanese toys in the 1980s which could change from vehicles into robots.

"I'm asking questions that can really shake up people's minds," says the chairman of James Law Cybertecture International, a Hong Kong design firm that marries architecture with interactive technology. "Why is a wall a wall? Why is a door a door? Why do buildings have to be static objects?"

If this all sounds like something out of science fiction, you're close to correct: Law's futuristic apartment was in part inspired by conversations he had with Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001: A Space Odyssey" and other sci-fi classics.

The British-educated architect cut his teeth designing stores and commercial buildings in Asia that integrate technology. One example are the retail shops for telecommunications firm PCCW here in Hong Kong that tracks customer movements through their stores, revealing which displays most attracted their attention.

Law has incorporated interactive design to department stores, theaters and commercial buildings. But for the first time his chameleon-like computerised apartment will be the model for rooms in a planned residential complex in Dubai.

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