HOUSE of the MONTH

OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2004

DILBERT'S ULTIMATE HOUSE

The Spectacularly Innovative Web-Based Home Is Live on <http://www.Dilbert.com!

San Francisco, CA (September 29, 2004) - In pursuit of finding true happiness and peace on earth for Dilbert and Dilbert-like individuals across the globe, cartoonist and visionary Scott Adams embarked on a journey to create "Dilbert's Ultimate House"(DUH). DUH is a virtual web-based home that the famous icon of the workplace Dilbert, his fans, tech geeks, the environmentally conscious, and those who just plain love the comfort of a good sofa, will covet.

"Dilbert is single and needs all the help he can get," said Adams. "He'd design his house to be wife bait. We wanted him to have a house so impressive that some woman would overlook his personality just to live in it."

Packed with energy and water saving elements, easy to maintain, with no wasted "museum rooms", Dilbert's Ultimate House is a sanctuary for both the environmentally concerned and the convenience fanatic alike. From Dilbert's own watchtower to a room solely for cat litter, below are a few of the funny and unique uses of space that are highlighted in the house:

•Christmas tree storage closet. Fake tree stays decorated, on wheels, all year, ready to come out in December.
•Hoseable bathroom for kids includes drain in floor. All surfaces can take a wash down.
•Basketball court in basement
•Quiet room (doubles as scream room), visible through soundproof glass.
•Urinal in Dilbert's master bathroom.
•Two dishwashers (one for clean dishes, one for dirty).
•Cat/dog room.
•Vacuum robot.
•Observatory shaped like Dilbert's head.
•Guest bedroom rigged for instant sleepovers.
•Home theater.

To design the house, Adams recruited the help of his fans, a leading 3D animation and multimedia studio and energy and environment experts. The computer model is currently up and running and viewers are able to take virtual tours of the completed house on <http://www.dilbert.com.

"Dilbert's house turned out so well that I find myself envying an imaginary person," remarked Adams. "I thought I already had every character flaw that existed, and then this came along. It's unsettling, really."

Adams, in an attempt to create an "open source" project, called upon his many fans to design an ultimate house. After receiving over 3,000 responses, ranging from the innovative to the absurd, Adams took the most forward thinking, out-of-the box, thoroughly useful house solutions to the engineers and architects of Heartwood Studios. In addition, he enlisted the consultation of PG&E, the primary west-coast gas and electrical company, to receive top energy-efficiency tips.

"Dilbert, the ultimate cubicle dweller, could only hope to live in the home that we created for him," said Raj Raheja, Creative Director of Heartwood Studios. "Scott and his fans have ground-breaking home improvement ideas that will blow the average home-owner away. We are excited to be part of such an innovative project and look forward to the possibility of seeing elements from DUH used in a real home in the near future."