Tours

Tours of Duke Smart Home can be arranged by contacting the Tom Rose. (See contact info below.) Tours are available each Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Please RSVP in advance for tours.

Tom Rose

919.724.8625
tom.rose @ duke.edu

Our Home

The Home Depot Smart Home is a 6,000 square foot live-in research laboratory operated by Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. The Home Depot Smart Home, part of a Duke Smart Home Program, creates a dynamic "living laboratory" environment that contributes to the innovation and demonstration of future residential building technology. The central concept of this project is our belief that smart homes can improve that quality of life for people of all ages and incomes.

The Home Depot Smart Home provides students at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity School of Arts and Sciences and Nicholas School for the Environment and Earth Sciences with an opportunity for practical hands- on engineering outside of the classroom in a living and learning community. In addition, we are partnering with industry to strengthen the residential market for integrated technology, and helping homeowners make their own ideas for smart homes a reality.

The goals for the residents of The Home Depot Smart Home are to:

  • Commit to and explore an energy efficient lifestyle,
  • Compare, use and develop smart and sustainable technology, and
  • Provide insight to homeowners for "do-it-yourself" technology integration and control.

Why build The Home Depot Smart Home at Duke?

Other universities already have smart homes, so why build another one at Duke? One of the most important aspects of this project is that it is a living laboratory--students will actually reside in The Home Depot Smart Home, and live with the benefits and consequences of their technology design and deployment decisions. This up close and personal approach to technology development will have a profound impact on our students--and on industry as Pratt engineers graduate and launch their own careers. We intend to share our experiences and technology innovations and draw upon the experiences of other university Smart Home projects. Our long term goal is to influence the national market for residential technology integration, and to help educate homeowners about the latest technologies.