At Homa, when we think about the next refrigerator, we imagine the lives it will be part of.

That’s why we dive deep into the domestic universe.

The editorial Domestic Shift, featured in the April edition of Homa Design Magazine, offers compelling insight into how our homes — and the way we live — are transforming. Work, leisure, wellbeing and family life now converge within the same walls — often in the very same room.

For a global OEM manufacturer like Homa, this shift isn’t just relevant — it’s strategic. Designing the right products means rethinking how appliances function within flexible, modular, tech-enabled spaces.

Refrigerators are no longer passive objects in the background. They must be sustainable, space-conscious, and intuitive — part of a dynamic ecosystem that adapts to new rhythms, diverse lifestyles, and evolving needs.

Reading Domestic Shift is a valuable first step toward imagining tomorrow’s refrigerators: responsive, seamlessly integrated (increasingly slot-in!), and shaped for a new kind of home.

DOMESTIC SHIFT

The hybrid home is a new design paradigm and a flexible, intelligent response to evolving lifestyles and spatial needs.

The ongoing social transformation has given rise to domestic environments shaped by multiple, personalised needs. Homes now call for modular, multifunctional furnishings that allow a bedroom to become an office, a living room to turn into a gym, then back again. All seamlessly integrated with smart technology.

Even though the idea has been discussed and developed for at least two decades, it was only after the 2020 pandemic that interior design began engaging daily with a new anthropological and socio-cultural category: the hybrid home. This is a response to a shared, global need, a shift that has become far more  than a trend. It is now a genuine paradigm, playing a disruptive and central role in the social transformation happening at all latitudes.

Today’s domestic walls are more fluid, modular and open, not only outward but also internally, creating seamless transitions within the home itself. In fact, it is precisely the domestic space that reveals how shifting habits and daily needs are shaping market responses. Design gives form to this shift, translating it into spaces we can live in. Its adaptive, flexible and multifunctional nature, unconstrained by rigid conventions, makes it uniquely suited to meet the needs of today while anticipating those of tomorrow.

Hybrid spaces have been defined as mobile environments shaped by the constant motion of those who inhabit them. Ongoing social change, demographic growth, the breakdown of the traditional family structure, tighter budgets and longer life expectancy have led to spaces with multiple needs. Rooms now require modular, multifunctional furniture that can turn a bedroom into an office, or a living room into
a gym and back again. All with furnishings that adapt quickly and comfortably to the varying demands of a day, with smartworking and home fitness now key structuring activities.

Hybrid spaces have become the new normal, incorporating ergonomic and technological workstations into domestic design without compromising the aesthetics or functionality of shared areas. Folding tables, movable walls and smart storage solutions allow a living room to transform within minutes from
a productive office into a relaxing retreat. The key is to design environments that support both productivity and wellbeing, through suitable lighting, acoustically protected areas and decorative elements that foster relaxation and focus. Optimisation is also crucial, with shelving and storage designed to maximise ceiling height, and intelligent lighting and climate systems that respond in real time to how the space is used.

Practicality, aesthetics and multipurpose technology are the pillars of increasingly hybrid homes, designed for people who live between work and leisure. A smart home for smart inhabitants. This new paradigm addresses practical needs, improves comfort, simplifies life and even helps save time. Interior design is now called to rewrite the language of modernity, integrating the many identities a person may embody over 24 hours, and interpreting spaces that reflect a society constantly  on the move. Life outside the home now inspires and contaminates life within it, always tending to daily needs.

At the same time, we must remember that today’s consumer is also the co-designer of the home, a space of living, working, relaxing and fitness, all linked by mobility. Hybrid homes are best equipped to interpret this cultural shift. Those living a mobile lifestyle require versatile, modular and multifunctional environments. Designing hybrid domestic spaces is the most useful form of dialogue between intuition and necessity, between creativity and a marketplace increasingly shaped by the consumers themselves. Today, those who inhabit a home also inhabit the market.

Adaptive, flexible design understands this well, helping to infuse the home with inclusivity, meaning the ability to serve the people who live in it and their individual needs. These are homes and furnishings that speak different languages at different times of day. Conscious furniture. Optimised spaces. Personalised environments. Because today, it is the home that adapts to its inhabitants, not the other way around.

Copyright HOMA 2025- Issued By Homa Marketing dept. on April 2025
For further Information and Press Contacts: info@homaeurope.eu