IMM Cologne 2006: Ideal Houses

The Ideal Houses are probably the most popular attraction at IMM Cologne, mainly because it confrontates renown designers on their own ideal conception of tomorrow's home interiors. In the past years we have seen Rashid vs Gcric, Campana vs Bouroullec and Jongerius vs Urquiola.
This year we could see the living design legend Dieter Rams against three (very) young designers: Joris Laarman, Stefan Diez and Astrid Krogh. I was expecting lots but I have to say it was not as much inspiring as previous years.
I liked Joris Laarman concept of open house very much, the idea of creating an open system where all objects inside and outside have the same power and interact with each other is very rich.
Stefan Diez's ideal house is refreshing and relaxed. An armonic young chaos I feel very close to real houses.
Astrid Krogh's house of the future was surprisingly cold and impersonal, I liked very much her seaters but I was expecting a much highly emotional space.
Dieter Rams defined his ideal house with his credo "Less, but better" but I got the feeling it could have been "Old, but better". I was definitely expecting much more from such an important designer.