SmartVENT - booth #426

File this under "you can never be too prepared." This image makes me feel both scared and relieved. Scared because of the amount of water pouring out of this structure...but relieved that this vent is there, allowing the water to rush out.

In New England, in the Spring, when temperatures rise - this could be quite handy.

Building Products and BIM (T27, Thursday, 10:30 – noon)

I admit that BIM sounds like that delicious Korean dish Bi-bim Bap. It is however, the wave of the future for building professionals. It stands for Building Information Modeling, and it is the process of generating and managing building data during a projects life cycle. The future is here people….pay attention!

Living color at home (T63, Thursday, 3:30 – 5:00)

Given that color is one of the last concepts babies learn (try to explain the attributes of red or green to a baby), it’s no surprise that adding color to homes continues to confound people. If you are hoping to encourage your clients to be a bit more experimental about adding color to their environments, I’d try this workshop for a little boost.

Highlighting Roxbury’s architecture (TT2 – Thursday, 9:30am – noon)

Puddingstone and hills? In Roxbury? If you consider yourself a Bostonian, you owe it to yourself to explore all of Boston’s nooks and crannies. Roxbury has a wealth of interesting architecture, from 18th century buildings to modern marvels. Check it out!

Longwood and Cottage Farm: a walking tour (WT1 – Wednesday, 10am – noon)

Who knew that in the 1800’s, David Sears II purchased 500 acres of land in Brookline to build country homes for his friends and family? He built these in the picturesque English Cottage style, in direct opposition to the heavier Greek styles that were being built at that time. Many of these beautiful homes still exist, and if you take this walking tour, you will be pleasantly surprised to view these hidden gems.

Home technology, automation and the smart house (W27 -Wednesday, 10:30am)

Okay….these people probably know how to program their DVRs and can use those big universal remote controls – but for the rest of us – this stuff is complicated! The description of this workshop says, “the key phrase in this session is…technology is simple and easy to use.” If I came away knowing how to program ‘American Idol’, I would feel a lot smarter. I bet you’ll learn a whole lot more than that in this workshop.

Change we can believe in!

For 5 years, the Residential Design & Construction show has brought its unique blend of education and inspiration to New England design professionals and homeowners. Not wanting to rest on our laurels, and in keeping with a new Government administration and a renewed sense of optimism, the team at RDC has decided to shake things up a bit in an effort to make sure that we leave no stone (or tile) unturned to showcase the best.

Over the next few months, we will be giving you pre-show peeks into some of the products and services that you will be seeing at the show, and we’ll be encouraging our trade association partners to provide us with information on their comings and goings. In short, we are taking the approach that this show belongs to everyone, and we want to be as inclusive as possible.

We’d love feedback, we encourage discourse!