The future success of our industry depends on the collaboration of all the stakeholders – not only to clear paths to legislative and policy hurdles, but also to create meaningful product that is designed and engineered to be sustainable in terms of both high quality and health and comfort.

The process of finding that perfect mix is very intentional and was one of the goals of the 2019 BUILDER KB Home ProjeKt concept home. Through a more than year-long exploration and collaboration of suppliers, designers, purchasing managers, landscape architects, engineers, and researchers, along with health and sustainability experts, the project came to fruition in Las Vegas in January 2019.

Jacob Atalla, vice president of innovation and sustainability at KB Home, identified the eight hallmarks of the project that the team coordinated on to find solutions. Not only did the team identify solutions, but pressed harder, sometimes tapping into new fountains of research and development, to find solutions with next generation technology features that benefit health and well-being of the residents. Those eight include:

1. Sharing economy that looks at the home as a revenue stream with potential for Airbnb or accessory dwelling units.
2. Advanced materials and construction that came together in a revolutionary way with off-site fabrication using BIM technology.
3. Changing household structures for aging in place, right-sizing and intentional communities.
4. Everything digital in a smart home context connected by the internet of things.
5. A wellness economy that has the home as the health hub.
6. Robotics with movable walls and transformer-esque furniture.
7. A sustainability continuum that pushes to net zero energy, and beyond to net positive energy.
8. Transportation as a service with autonomous vehicles.

In this video, Atalla kicks off a fun, engaging panel that leverages KB Home’s leadership, investment, commitment, and operationalization of innovation to unify team members, business partners, land developers, and local officials in buy-in and partnership around improving the lives of people in new residential communities.

Each member of the team played a critical role in the goals of the project. Paige Shipp, regional director at Metrostudy delivers insight on how to road map today’s household needs, attitudes, behaviors, and preferences to align a new home’s value proposition to buyers’ journey, from engagement to conversion.

Manny Gonzalez, principal at KTGY and the rest of his team translated those consumer insights into a plan that would solve for optimal flexibility, indoor-outdoor connectivity, a future-proof universal design that lives well over time, and seamless integration of smart technology solutions. Not only that, but they constantly value engineered to achieve it all in a way that optimized the builder’s costs.

The project also projected how walkable, pocket neighborhood principles will be incorporated into master-planned community designing for optimal lot values and community connectivity. Andy Baron, partner at Anderson Baron shows how, with the ingenuity of the team, they created a community that has four times more open space, 31% more home sites and 41% fewer roads.

These efficiencies were created, and contribute to a neighborhood with better social connectivity, combating a national phenomenon of isolation and loneliness, making the outdoor design a main health and wellness feature.

All of the innovation of the BUILDER KB Home ProjeKt was executed in more efficient way to drive down costs as well. Gerry McCaughey, CEO and chairman at Entekra guided the team through an effective, high-quality offsite fabrication process that he has been using in Ireland for years. The efficiencies are due to the automated code-driven processes, reduced waste of resources, and faster build cycles that also result in tighter envelopes, higher performance, and durability.

The prefabrication process was a smart work around for KB Home’s challenges with increasing material costs and the lack of skilled labor, saving 30 days on site during the construction of the home.

Finally, Paul Scialla, founder and CEO at Delos demonstrated the necessity to start changing the separation between housing and health by applying technology and systems solutions to those needs. Scialla’s team also extended the sphere of leadership and research that the ProjecKt benefited from, with partners such as the Mayo Clinic and Deepak Chopra, an author and leading figure in the New Age movement.

This project delivered more than a strong story line around collaboration. It also outlined the future of housing that is smart in every sense of the word – sustainable, affordable, healthy and comfortable.