ELECTROLUX NORA

privacy & comfort in multigenerational homes

Not so many generations ago, having children, parents and grandparents living together under the same roof used to be the norm. For a number of reasons this way of living seems to be on the rise again and experts claim that it is here to stay. The main benefits of multigenerational living are the inclusiveness of the oldest generation, a strengthened family bond and economic benefits. However, one of the biggest challenges for this way of living is dealing with individual needs, desires and habits within shared living spaces.

In this collaboration project with Electrolux, the students were asked to find new ways of improving life in multigenerational housholds. The project was carried out in group work, with teams of 3 students.

Student Project 
Team: Niels van Gils & Yuan Hong
Umeå Institute of Design
Duration: 4 weeks
2021

Contributions:
Ideation + Prototyping
3D Modeling
Rendering

In collaboration with:

01

PROCESS

Research Insights

First, our team analyzed what living in a multigenerational home means for the individual family members. We quickly realized that there are a lot of different needs, desires and habits of the different generations that all have to go together somehow. However, there are also a lot of things a household like this can benefit from. As a starting point, we imagined all the different scenarios where people of different generations are coexisting in the same space, but doing different things.

A flexible solution for creating visual separation.

A shared wearable product that creates a personal bubble.

A „democratic thermostat“ for dealing with room temperatures.

Ideas

In a first brainstorming we created three different concepts that are all adressing the topic of privacy and individual needs within multigenerational households.

Ideation

Together we explored a large number of variants for our chosen concept through sketching and quickly put together mock-ups.

3D Development

The final design was then developed in multiple 3D iterations using the software Blender.

02

FINAL DESIGN

Electrolux Nora

NORA is a wearable product that allows all family members to create their own, ’personal bubble’ while still being around their beloved ones. Three main features are contributing to this:

• Integrated Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology

• Infrared heating pad

• Foldable hoodie 

Hoodie

A Hoodie can be unfolded and put on to reduce visual disturbance and create a sense of privacy.

Heating Pads

Infrared heating pads create comfort and help to equal out the different temperature needs and thus prevent households from heating up the entire room.

Active Noise Cancelling

Integrated Active Noise Cancelling close to the users ears reduces the noise of the surrounding and creates a pleasant, silent space where one can focus or relax.

Clean & Repair

NORA is designed to be quickly dismantable, which makes it easy to clean and repair. Additionally, this opens up possibilities for personalization and customization.