The National Association of Home Builders’ New American Home for 2024

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Think about it. If you were tasked with building the optimal, totally state-of the-art home with every conceivable design advantage, stellar, best-in-class materials, an exceptional team of industry professionals working from foundation to roof, and a directive to dream big, what might that home look like?

While this is surely a fun, escapist exercise for us, this task represents a solid, nuts and bolts endeavor for the National Association of Home Builders which has been rising to the challenge to build all the above and more into what they refer to as the New American Home every year for the last 40 years. The end result of this visionary project, which is unveiled annually at the NAHB International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, is a compilation based on the execution of two primary project goals: maximizing housing performance and energy efficiency. 

Takeaways from last month’s annual unveiling are not only beautiful to look at, but they also represent practices and innovations that you may soon be seeing in that re-build down the street from you, or perhaps even in your very own American home. So, let’s break it down and take a better look!

How This Home Performs

Four walls are just that unless, and until, you see each as an opportunity to be cozier, safer, and just plain happier within them. That is what home performance is all about, and as they say, “When you know better, you do better.” Year over year, the New American Home project is a testament to everything the building industry has learned when it comes to impact, efficiency, and aesthetics. Every nook and cranny of this 7,722 square-foot build was scrutinized with those aspects in mind. As a result, this home offers a plethora of wow factors in the area of performance. 

Here are the highlights: 

  • To meet and/or exceed current energy efficiency standards, low-e coating windows with argon gas fill were installed throughout, which will help limit solar gain and optimize air tightness. 
  • A unique waterproofing system and floor-heating products were installed to help balance the home’s humidity levels, control mold growth, and off-set the costs associated with HVAC use. 
  • The home’s attic is unvented, air-sealed, and lined with polyurethane spray-foam insulation.
  • The exterior walls are sheathed with insulation board, sprayed with open-cell polyurethane spray-foam insulation, and R-values are maximized with the addition of reflective wall and ceiling insulation. 
  • The home’s solar array of 84, 400-watt solar panels are enhanced with double-insulted microinverters.
  • To improve energy efficiency and provide a more economical renewable energy option, the entire home was sealed with an atomized sealing process designed to plug up even the smallest of holes that cause drafts and inefficiencies. 
  • All household utility systems including HVAC, water heaters, and electrical fixtures are optimized to exceed certification specifications for Emerald level of the National Green Building Standard. 
  • A whole-building ventilation system approach was configured to allow optimal fresh air flow into the home.

The Design-Build Custom Process

The NAHB awarded the design keys to a proven leader and forward thinker in the custom design/build category, Sun West Custom Homes. The home is located in Nevada and its prevailing objective was to bring the aspect of resort living to everyday living. A keen consideration of the natural environment surrounding the home was the key inspiration for its interior design. One clear indication of that is the prominent interior feature walls that utilize a unique stone application that matches the custom stone found on the home’s exterior, creating that all-important connection from indoors to outdoors.

The home is one-story, with 7,722 feet of living space that includes five bedrooms, five and one-half bathrooms, a state-of-the-art outdoor kitchen, a pool courtyard, and a menu of energy-efficient features.

The architectural vibe of the home is definitely ultra-modern with its striking, angled slabs of multi-tiered roof sections, its façade of warm stone, and generous amounts of glass to take advantage of its perched location looking out and beyond the famous Las Vegas strip. 

The glass starts at the front door with the innovative choice of an a-typically wide, weighty glass panel door from Western Window Systems that pivots with the ability to swing in or out. The eye is immediately drawn straight ahead and toward a dramatic great room. A series of fixed-system floor-to-ceiling windows take the place of traditional walls enabling the already spacious entry to inspire the intentional feel of being at a resort.

The great room acts as the core of this one-story residence with all the other areas of the home spinning off around it. Along the way to the great room, you can’t help but notice the eye-catching, lighted, clear column of wine bottles. This glass-enclosed Helix wine rack serves as both chiller and visual thriller in a space that is so inviting and well-suited for entertaining.

The wine wall is an extension of the formal dining room where we get to see more of the interior’s palette influenced by organic design, one of three major trends that the NAHB notes will remain popular in 2024. This room, with its staggered collection of hanging rattan lighting, and two textured walls of dark, rich wood, (one being the “fifth wall” or ceiling), also speaks to personalization trends showcasing warmer tones and the incorporation of grainy woods.

This tonal and tactile aesthetic continues to unfold all around you. Up above, the entire ceiling in this space is fitted with dark woods and peppered throughout with recessed lighting. The light, bisque-colored floor is accented with a texture-rich area rug in the great room. Its earthen brown hue and the sand-colored sectional sofa completes a visually stimulating yet relaxing space with open plan sightlines to the state-of-the-art kitchen.

Design and form truly rule in this space, which will be a topic of conversation all on its own. A wall of dark wood built-ins with vertical orientations is located to the left of the room as you enter. These intentional units fitted with storage cabinets below will provide ample display spaces for the homeowners collected and heirloom treasures. Consistent with the trend, the kitchen boasts two islands, both gorgeous and functional in their own way. The more traditional of the two does the lion’s share when it comes to utility, housing appliances, and tons of drawers and cabinets in its wood base for kitchen essentials. It’s topped with a concrete mineral countertop from Caesarstone’s Metropolitan Collection.

The other island is a counterbalanced work of art in the form of a monolithic-like slab that mimics structural features on the exterior of the home. The piece, with its obvious visual impact will no doubt be the gathering spot for pre-dinner festivities and perhaps a bottled vintage from the nearby wine wall. Another point of interest is the ceiling treatment in this room with its collection of cross-hatched, triangular wooden panels of various tones and textures—another bold take on the personalized trend in design.

The kitchen flows on one side to its exterior counterpart and introduces dinner guests to what outdoor resort-style living is all about. This space with its al fresco cooking and dining area, pool, and modern, fire pit with conversational seating is totally opened to the inside with the home’s integrated system of moving glass walls; clearly setting the standard in its class for optimal integration of indoor and outdoor spaces.

At day’s end, this home’s inhabitants will retreat to their primary suite which conveniently faces the pool and the incredible view of the city of Las Vegas in the distance, in a home that is a world-away from the everyday. 

Find the complete tour of the New American Home online at tnah.com.

The NAHB on the Trends

While our showcase house may be located in Nevada, trend experts at the NAHB, say the following design trends will have staying power no matter your location:

Bold personalization: 

With resale value no longer a major concern, many homeowners want to make their homes uniquely personal. Long gone are the days of the stark white and gray color palette throughout the home. Colors are now shifting to warmer tones and textures, such as shades of blue and green and wood grain.

Nostalgic notes: 

Mixing and matching design styles to better integrate homeowners’ treasured keepsakes into a redesign is becoming more popular. There’s also a shift away from modern design elements (think: clean lines) to incorporating more traditional features such as curved archways.

Organic design: 

Bringing the outdoors inside is another way homeowners are using remodeling to personalize their living spaces. This can be done by using woven materials such as cane and rattan throughout the home or by installing skylights allowing for more natural sunlight to flow through common areas.