The 2013 New American Home design is all about creating open and nature-embracing living spaces. In addition to the great energy efficiency features we’ve already discussed, the New American Home has many other interesting and inspiring features.

2013 New American Home

This year’s sits on a 0.66 acre lot south of Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada. It’s four levels and 6,721 square feet, containing an impressive 3 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, enclosed and open-air basements, a home theater, a library and a home office.

The designers kept the huge home feeling comfortable by weaving aspects of nature into almost every living space. From canals of water running through the house to the open air foyer to the zero-edge pools which line the sunken outdoor living area, there are relaxing sights and sounds of nature everywhere.

The New American Home design is complex, creating a home with so many visible layered spaces defined by more natural objects than walls was difficult. But, it’s been done in Henderson in a cleaver and breath-taking way, and it can be done in the Breckenridge area as well.

Contact our team at Trilogy Partners for more information about custom chome design trends and incorporating them into your home.

Source: Builder Magazine

Last Friday, September 23rd, started the 2011 Solar Decathlon with 20 teams competing for the best solar-powered house around. Each collegiate team has been asked to “design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.” These 20 innovative homes will be on display at National Mall’s West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C until October 2nd.

Leading the way are University of Maryland and Purdue University.  According to U.S. Department of Energy, who has been spearheading this competition since 2002, the winner will be the team “that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.”

Take a look at the scene on the National Mall this week.

Aerial view of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)

Aerial view of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 in Washington, D.C. (Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)

To learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon visit www.solardecathlon.gov.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s last remaining hotel recently reopened in Mason City, Iowa. The Park Inn, completed in 1910, was built as a three-story wood-and-brick structure that adjoined another of his designs, the City National Bank. ARCHITECT writes that The Park Inn  “would serve as the bridge between his Prairie School period and his Midway Gardens.”

The restoration, which took 12 years , was the brainchild of a nonprofit group called Wright on the Park. They commissioned Bergland + Cram to oversee the restoration in 1999 for an estimated $18 million. ARCHITECT reports that “the lobby, ladies parlor, and balcony all appear as they did a century ago.”

Courtesy of The New York Times

You can witness the renovation and the story behind The Park Inn in the 2008 documentary, “The Last Wright.”

Experience a night in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Historic Park Inn starting at just $100 a night. For more information call (641) 422-0015 or visit wrightonthepark.org.

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and like many we were riveted to the television watching all the live coverage at the National September 11 Memorial at Ground Zero. The 9/11 memorial plaza opened yesterday morning at 10 a.m., almost the exact minute ten years earlier when the first tower fell. In the place in which the World Trade Center’s twin towers once stood are two reflecting pools with the names of 2,977 people killed in the terrorist attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, as well as the six who died in the bombing of the trade center in 1993. There are also over 400 oak trees planted to provide a canopy over the Memorial.

Courtesy of the National September 11th Memorial

Courtesy of National September 11th Memorial

Courtesy of the National September 11th Memorial

According to the 9/11 Memorial, “The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest manmade waterfalls in the North America. The pools sit within the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. Architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker created the Memorial design selected from a global design competition that included more than 5,200 entries from 63 nations.”