So here’s a confession. I have a huge affection for traditional home design. You know, at heart I’m just a country girl, who loves old houses. I particularly love the Victorian era and some of the wonderful old colonial architecture of the South. But every now and again I find a truly striking contemporary design that I can’t help but admire. And this home is one of those.
It’s in Las Vegas and it’s called The New American Home. The house is the official show home of the International Builders Show. IBS is where the top building companies across North America exhibit and showcase their products, innovations and solutions. And every year the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) constructs a show home as a centerpiece for the show to demonstrate innovative construction technologies and the latest building products.
Because Phantom Screens is a member of the Leading Suppliers Council of the NAHB we are able to feature our products on the home and this year a total of nine recessed Executive motorized retractable screens by Phantom have been installed at The New American Home.
What I love about this year’s New American Home is that it breaks with conventions of regular home design. It isn’t just another cookie cutter property. I love the wide open living spaces and the fact that they’re on all kinds of different levels. I’m no architect, but I am pretty good at understanding design drawings, although when I saw the design on paper it just wasn’t easy to understand – and actually quite baffling! But once you’ve seen the home, it just makes sense. The builders created a pretty skookum CGI rendering too which you can see in the video below. (Can’t see the video? Click here)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGjaLraKn7M&w=560&h=315]
The 6,721 square feet New American Home was designed and built by Blue Heron, and has four levels. What I particularly love about the home is that its open style living means that you get fantastic views throughout the home which makes it feel like it’s part of the desert landscape.
Phantom’s screens provide respite from the harsh desert sun
And the combination of preserving those spectacular views and protecting the home from the harsh glare of the Nevada sun is where our screens come into their own. The home uses our Executive motorized retractable screens and large water features not only to look good, but also to cool the home when the sun is shining. By using this natural cooling effect the homeowner doesn’t need the air conditioning as much which reduces energy use – and lower running costs.
And for those gadget lovers amongst you, you’ll be pleased to know that the screens are fully integrated into the home’s Crestron home automation system. The home’s “end-to-end” network solution from Crestron acts as a digital “backbone” and provides the wiring infrastructure for all the home’s technology – including controlling the retractable screens.
It’s been an exciting project for Phantom Screens to be involved with and we’re really proud of the results. We’ll be launching a dedicated website for the project in time for the opening of the show next week, so be sure to check it out. I’ll post the link here as soon as it’s online.
If you’re in Las Vegas at IBS 2013, you really should visit the home. It’ll be worth the trip, that’s for sure. Details on how to take a tour are on the International Builders Show website.