Smarter, Softer Living: Insights from Samsung × ArchiPro After 5

Hosted in the Samsung showroom within the Residium Design + Build Centre, the evening brought together the design and technology communities for an open conversation about what “smart” really means today.

Led by ArchiPro’s GM Marketing, Deborah Brown, the panel featured Buster Caldwell Director at Wonder Group alongside Samsung specialists Peter Huang, Hayden White and Chris Park, joined by Samsung ambassador and content creator Tima Savea, who recently completed a fully Samsung-enabled family home.

From the outset, it became clear that today’s smart home is less about spectacle and more about subtle service. For Samsung, the ambition centres on reducing mental load.

Letting people know when the washing is finished, allowing an oven to preheat before you arrive home, pausing a TV to switch a load of laundry, or checking security from the living-room screen. These small interventions, woven together through SmartThings, create a home that feels more responsive, more effortless and ultimately more human.

Caldwell’s design perspective reinforced this shift toward gentle integration. Smart systems, he noted, should follow rather than lead the design process. His team resolves the fundamentals first, layout, flow, materials, atmosphere before layering in technology with restraint.

Often, the most transformative decisions are the simplest: underfloor heating on a timer, self-cleaning ovens, automated irrigation. When chosen well, technology doesn’t dominate a space, it quietly improves it.

One of the more reassuring takeaways from the evening was how accessible this approach has become. Beyond a robust Wi-Fi network, most Samsung appliances are plug-and-play and integrate into SmartThings in minutes. Third-party products such as lighting, curtains and locks can be added just as easily. This modularity means homeowners can start small and scale over time, building a connected home at their own pace.

Tima’s family home offered a lived example. Set on a rural lifestyle block, her Samsung-enabled house uses SmartThings to streamline everyday routines. Preheating the oven on the school run, receiving washing notifications directly on the TV, turning off forgotten devices remotely and monitoring security through a single interface.

As she explained, the appeal isn’t novelty. It’s ease. A house that supports the rhythm of family life rather than adding to it.

Future-proofing was another point of discussion. Samsung’s commitment to multi-year software updates for TVs and major appliances ensures devices continue to improve well into their lifespan, with SmartThings evolving alongside them. Crucially, when software support eventually ends, the mechanical function remains unchanged. Fridges keep cooling, washers keep washing.

Questions from the audience circled a familiar tension. How to balance digital convenience with the tactile, analogue comfort people still cherish.

Caldwell advocated for a hybrid approach, pairing connected systems with elements that stay delightfully simple. Samsung echoed this sentiment. Every product retains traditional controls, with smart features acting as an added layer rather than a replacement. And with data security handled through Samsung Knox, users can opt in at their own pace.

As the evening closed, capped with the giveaway of a Samsung Music Frame, one idea lingered. The smartest homes aren’t the ones richest in technology. They’re the ones where technology quietly steps back, supporting the architecture, the routines and the people who live there.

For both Samsung and ArchiPro, this is the future worth building toward. Homes that feel intuitive, calm and unmistakably human.