Las Vegas custom builder to show off design in virtual reality

In the past, you had to wait until your home was built to walk through the kitchen. But we are in a new age of technology. Now all you have to do is throw on a pair of virtual reality goggles, and you can take in all of the details of the flooring, cabinets, the island, patio door and appliances. You can’t make dinner just yet, but you’ll certainly feel like you want to, or at least, you’ll yearn to sit at the formal dining table all laid out and ready for a holiday dish.

Tip: Those of us with motion sickness should not make sudden movements when immersed in this experience.

This may be the future of homebuying and homebuilding. Blue Heron Design Build founder Tyler Jones thinks so.

His Las Vegas custom homebuilding company uses Oculus Rift, which many gamers may be aware of, to take customers on a tour of their new home before the walls go up. The content is designed by Jones’ team.

“This is a game-changer,” Jones said.

The company has created a home design called RockStar for Lot No. 64 in Ascaya, a Henderson luxury community. The design will be unveiled at a public event Dec. 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Ascaya sales office.

Jones said the name of the home design came from the rugged mountainside it is nested against.

“You feel like you are in the home,” he said. “You can stand in the great room and look out over the pool to the Strip.”

Ascaya Sales Manager Darin Marques said the community invited Jones to design for that homesite because some home shoppers were struggling to visualize their new homes. They also had people walking in and asking for a “Blue Heron.”

“They would say, ‘I love Blue Heron. Can I build a Blue Heron up here,” said Marques, who is with Shapiro &Sher Group of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Nevada Properties.

He said the company’s Vegas Modern style is a “perfect match” for Ascaya’s views of the valley.

Several architects and homebuilders are creating designs especially for the 313-lot development atop the McCullough Range, about 1,000 feet above the valley floor. He said the designs, which have preliminary approval from the community’s architectural review committee, can save the homebuyer time and money. The buyer can, of course, make modifications to the RockStar or select it for another lot.

The home has the Blue Heron trademark contemporary design with several decks for viewing the desert mountains and Las Vegas Strip. It includes lots of media features, including a big outdoor movie screen.

The luxury architectural pre-design is a process Jones has honed with his five Las Vegas Valley boutique luxury communities. He and other builders are catering to wealthy people who don’t want to spend two years to build a home and want a firm budget.

The community is building seven “Inspirational Homes” that were created by local and national architects to give homebuyers more ideas for creating their home. The first one by SB Architects is expected to be completed in January, Marques said.

Ascaya has three residents living in the community that abuts Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.

In addition, construction continues on the $25 million, 20,000-square-foot clubhouse, and it is expected to be completed next spring, Marques said. He said the facility will feature a resort-style pool and fitness center. The clubhouse is in the same styling as some of Ascaya developer’s other iconic developments — The Carlyle in New York City, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas and the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Marques said.

“This building is more than architecture,” said John E. Sather, who led the Arizona-based Swaback Partners’ design team to create the clubhouse.

The graduate of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture called the resort facility and the community it will bring together “forward-thinking” and a “celebration of the kind of energy that the raw desert gives you.”

Ascaya is privately held by the family of Dr. Henry Cheng, which controls Hong Kong-based New World Development Co. Limited, a global developer with projects in Hong Kong, mainland China, Europe and the U.S.

The Ascaya sales center is at One Ascaya Boulevard in Henderson. Take U.S. Highway 95 South to I-215. Head east on I-215 and exit at Valle Verde Drive heading south. Turn right (west) on Horizon Ridge Parkway and left (south) on Roma Hills Drive and continue on Roma Hills to Ascaya.

Meanwhile, virtual reality technology continues to change the real estate landscape.

Luxury Estates International owner Kamran Zand has been using the technology to sell homes to international clients who cannot physically tour the residence.

“This is not a trend, it’s a new fixture in the way properties are being marketed and sold,” he said. “We have 3-D tours of all of our properties.”

Zand specializes in Blue Heron resales. He said the company has made a name for itself with its popular Vegas Modern brand.

“People are crazy for this product,” he said.

As Las Vegas continues to evolve and find its style, technology seems to have a big part to play.