Frank Lloyd Wright was a visionary, but he likely couldn't have predicted the next big to have spun out of Taliesin West, the architect's winter home and school in the Arizona desert. When he passed in 1959, many of his apprentices formed an architecture firm named Taliesin Associated Architects, and in the late 1970s met with real estate developer Randall Presley to plan and build an experimental living laboratory in Ahwatukee, Arizona. 

The project was spearheaded by Charles Schiffner, one of the firm's architects, as a home outfitted with technology never before used in a domestic setting. “I started thinking about how to practically use a computer in a home structure and I took the approach of looking at the computer as a utility, and exploring what that utility can do,” Schiffner said. “With the integration of technology and architecture, the House of the Future itself became bionic.” Five microcomputers were installed throughout the house with a variety of functions, including the automatic healing and cooling of the house, the automatic operation of doors and windows, and even the ability to make emergency calls in fires were detected.

The following was featured in a brochure for the Home of the Future published in 1980:

“A look at tomorrow…today. From Arizona’s rugged desert landscape appears a magnificent prism built of man’s dreams, heralded by the gleam of pure copper. This is the House of the Future. Now the ideas of tomorrow are here today at the ‘shining home of dreams,’ Ahwatukee. More than just gadgets and gimmicks, the House of the Future is an advance in architecture, offering a blend of the latest technology and creative concepts of living.”

The home opened in 1980, 23 years after another forward-thinking domestic prototype with the same name. The House of the Future designed by Monsanto and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was installed in the center of Disneyland in 1957, as a demonstration of then-futuristic technology and method of construction, including microwave ovens and glass-reinforced plastics. What sets the two apart, however, is that the latter envisioned the now-prevalent "smart home," and was reportedly the first microprocessor controlled house in the world when it first opened.

The home was only on display for two years, after which point it became a private residence. According to The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Schiffner [is] still in touch with the current owner, and that some of the computer systems are still running today."