Our homes are our own personal ecosystems. Americans spend nearly 90% of our daily lives indoors, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has concluded that physical and social environments are the largest determinants of our health. So, when we talk about sustainability at home, it just makes sense that we look at the impact of our home environment on our health as well as our home’s impact on the health of the environment.
This is even more true for the 50-plus homeowner, who may spend an increasing proportion of time in their home.
With the 2019 BUILDER KB Home ProjeKt concept home, Where Tomorrow Lives, we are exploring what it means to “Live Well” and the important relationship between our homes and the health of both our environment and ourselves, with a special emphasis on the 50-plus buyer of the future.
We believe that the home of tomorrow will be thoughtful, creating a relationship between home and resident that provides personalized efficiency and offers the gift of increased free time and a simpler, healthier lifestyle.
Healthy home features are already a key component of KB Home’s eDifference sustainability platform, and we are the only national builder to receive EPA’s Indoor airPLUS Leader award. With the ProjeKt, we are extending that emphasis to design a next-generation home that creates a truly integrated experience of personal and environmental health.
In envisioning Where Tomorrow Lives with this new evolution of KB Home ProjeKt, a key challenge remains: In 2050, how will we balance personal comfort and progress with the overall health of the planet and ourselves? Our team of collaborators is answering that challenge with a range of innovative solutions.
Jacob Atalla, vp of sustainability at KB Home, consults with Atilla Lawrence, professor of Interior Architecture and Healthcare Design, affiliate research faculty at the Center for Biobehavioral Interdisciplinary Science, University of Nevada, to incorporate healthy best practices in the ProjeKt.
Do No Harm
“Do no harm” is the quintessential medical imperative. The 2019 ProjeKt takes that imperative to the next level, with materials and products that don’t just reduce VOCs and other emissions, they actively improve indoor environments as well. For example, the paint and drywall used in the 2019 ProjeKt contains no VOCs and also captures VOCs from other sources from the surrounding air to create a passive air quality improvement system.
Indoor paint from Sherwin-Williams that is used throughout ProjeKt is also anti-microbial, which likewise passively reduces potential harm, particularly in kitchens and baths. This focus on the indoor air environment is critical, given that indoor air can actually be worse than outdoor air, with concentrations of some pollutants up to five times higher indoors compared to outdoors.
Sleep Soundly
Mental health is an increasingly important area of focus for overall health and the 2019 KB Home ProjeKt is designed to create an environment that supports this priority. Circadian lighting systems and sound-absorbing drywall in bedrooms promote improved sleep, one of the most effective contributors to overall health. Biophilic design brings soothing elements from nature into the home, which promotes relaxation and contributes to improved mental health.
Connectivity…Not Online
ProjeKt’s home and community designs also promote spending more time outside and greater social connectivity. The home easily flows from indoors to outdoors, including an outdoor flex space that can become a yoga studio or an outdoor living area, as well as an outdoor swim spa that offers the convenience of exercise at home in a compact outdoor space.
The home-site design is oriented toward semi-private spaces at the front and side of the home, encouraging a seamless flow from privacy to social engagement. The community also includes numerous spaces that encourage greater time connecting with neighbors outdoors, from a pet pavilion to community garden to a shared vehicle facility, important to offset the isolation in the digitally connected age that many argue have led to an increase in mental health issues and loneliness.
We are also exploring ways to leverage artificial intelligence with the passive health performance features of the home to create innovative connected capabilities that learn and adapt, creating a health partnership between homeowner and home. These capabilities are still under development with leading innovators in this space, but offer exciting opportunities to add an active layer of artificial intelligence to the passive health performance features of the home to create a home that truly “lives well.”
KB Home, its innovations collaborators, and its partners at BUILDER and Hanley Wood are unveiling the 2019 KB Home ProjeKt in Las Vegas in February. Check in frequently for updates as we continue to share more details and sneak previews of the home in-progress.
