We Always Look Forward To The IBS

For a couple of the members of the DCG staff, there is little to go for Las Vegas for in the winter time where the weather is 35 a night but guess its better than in the summer with temperatures in the 100s.  Not being a gambler, there is still much to see with interesting restaurant design, the live stage shows and the outrageous architecture that dwarfs the human existence in its size. But this year the International Builders Show has landed at the LV convention center, just a few hundred feet off the Vegas strip. Our staff makes an effort every year to go and see what’s new, what’s upcoming that will make enhance the residential built environment.  

There is ALWAYS something to see and this year, standing two stories high in the back of the central hall of the convention center is one unique statement about the state of the economy.  A model home with a vision to the future of the home.

LivingHome, the 11th in a legacy of innovative show homes produced by Builder Magazine, provides a single source for the housing industry’s current ills and its future. The contemporary 2,000-square-foot home consists of two pairs of stacked, steel-wood modules that will emerge near-complete from a Southern California factory next month after a 10-week production process (followed by a half week of on-site assembly) that not only produces a high-performance home faster but also with far less waste than traditional site building practices.

Its size, meanwhile, supports green building efforts: an efficient footprint that still stands up to modern lifestyle needs while enabling higher densities in compact development models that lessen environmental impact.

It’s also flexible. In addition to a bonus room on the main level, the model residence will demonstrate panelized walls that can augment the footprint as family and lifestyle needs change—and perhaps once a buyer places the home on an actual lot after the show is over. “We describe this house in terms of what it delivers,” says Jason Smith, a senior associate with KieranTimberlake, a Philadelphia-based design architect who has collaborated on several modular prototypes including the LivingHome with Santa Monica, Calif., builder LivingHomes. “It’s [financially] accessible housing with high-quality design and a high level of sustainability.”

The often-conflicting set of goals, says Smith, requires a delicate balance and hard-nosed dedication. “We didn’t want to dumb it down or tart it up,” he says, to push any one of those goals ahead of the others. Rather, the goal is to deliver a viable, comprehensive concept to the housing industry. “The ambition of these projects is to create a repeatable system with variances that make them intriguing and interesting.”

In addition, this is a trade show that is chock full of products from the world over that can stimulate the design experience and step it into high gear.  We’ve seen innovative products first introduced at the IBS shows that do finally trickle down into the marketplace.  So while we are anticipating the cold, looking forward to seeing Bette Midler on stage, enjoying super cheap hotel rates ( think: 75. a nite for a premium room at the Hilton ) we love to take a peak into the future of residential construction.  Keep tuned for updates on what we discover next week.