Blue Heron sets example with New American Home
With walls made of insulated concrete forms and a gas-powered air conditioning system, the New American Home being built by Las Vegas-based Blue Heron sets an example for other home builders around the globe, project manager Kris Oesterling said.
The 9,000-square-foot home under construction at 6755 Agave Azul Court, backing up to Sunset Park, will be showcased at the International Builders Show coming to Las Vegas in January.
Housing industry professionals from around the world will tour the home during the show and see the latest in architectural designs, new products, advanced construction techniques and interior concepts that address today’s lifestyle trends.
"There’s just a lot of trick things there — a courtyard in the basement with a wet bar, a waterfall with flames, a four-stop elevator from the basement to the sky deck," Oesterling said.
The house uses Icynene insulation, an open-wall foam that expands to cover all surfaces and voids, the construction manager said. It will have a "zero-edge" swimming pool where the water level is the same as the deck.
Oesterling estimated the cost of the home at $3 million to $4 million. Completion is scheduled for mid-October to meet the deadline for featuring the home in Builder magazine.
"This is not your typical house that goes into the Parade of Homes or a model home," said Bill Nolan, a Florida home-building consultant and chairman of the New American Home task force. "This is really a textbook. It’s designed to showcase architectural design and introduce new concepts in construction technology. Nobody’s ever replicated the New American Home."
The task force, sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders, visited Las Vegas in July to meet with the builder and architect and take away ideas from the New American Home.
Nolan said the New American Home has been "green" for the last eight or nine years, introducing things like tankless water heaters and double-paned, glazed windows for energy efficiency.
The U.S. Department of Energy has sent its secretary or deputy secretary to the International Builders Show the last five years, Nolan said.
"The idea is it’s easier for builders to see something in place than to read about it in a manufacturer’s brochure," he said. "That’s the purpose of the house. I would say the New American Home is the equivalent of a Las Vegas buffet. You don’t eat everything at the buffet table. You pick and choose what you want."
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.