Gallery: Yves Béhar Designs a Thermostat to Disappear
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Yves Béhar, the design wunderkind whose studio, Fuseproject, brought you the Sodastream, the Jawbone Up fitness band, and the August smart lock, among other gorgeous gadgets, is back with the Hive Active Heating 2.
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It's coolest feature is a mirrored, square case resembling polished chrome. Like the popular Nest, it helps keep tabs on your energy use. Unlike Nest, its digital display reveals itself only when touched.
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It is at once familiar and unassuming, even as it packs the latest tech. That was also essential, given Béhar's client, British Gas, serves nearly half of the homes and businesses in the UK. In place of a touchscreen, there's a row of three buttons and a dial, all of which offer a satisfying, analog click.
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To help it further blend in, it comes with 12 colored frames to match the decor of any room. "It's about fitting in," Béhar says. "It reflects the environment; it takes on the visual color of its surroundings."
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Installation is designed to be straightforward. Once the dial is pushed, an LED display appears to rise to the shiny surface, with only the relevant buttons illuminated to guide the user through the process step by step with simple questions like, "Do you want to optimize for efficiency or comfort." Once programmed (with up to six timed temperature and hot-water settings per day), the device can be reset manually or through a smartphone app.
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You can't get Hive anywhere beyond the U.K., where it costs £249 ($388).
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But the design conceit that makes it so cool could---even should---be used for everything from thermostats and light switches to smoke detectors and security systems.
