Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 3, 2006

The exterior of the Xanadu House in Kissimmee, Florida

The Xanadu Houses were a series of experimental houses built to showcase computers and automation in the home. The architectural project began in 1979, and during the early 1980s three houses were built in Kissimmee, Florida, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and Gatlinburg, Tennessee in the United States. The houses included novel construction and design techniques, and became popular visitor attractions during the 1980s. The Xanadu Houses were notable for being built with polyurethane insulation foam rather than concrete, for easy, fast, and cost-effective construction. They were ergonomically designed, and contained some of the earliest home automation systems. The Kissimmee Xanadu, designed by Roy Mason, was the most popular, and at its peak was attracting one thousand visitors every day. The Wisconsin Dells and Gatlinburg houses were closed and demolished in the early 1990s; the Kissimmee Xanadu House was closed in 1996 and demolished in October 2005.

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