KB Home and leading partners unveil the future of the sustainable home with KB ProjeKt: Where Tomorrow Lives™

This year’s Environmental Leader Top Project of the Year, KB Home ProjeKt: Where Tomorrow Lives™—the future-driven sustainable concept home unveiled by KB Home and partners KTGY Architecture + Planning, AndersonBaron and Builder near Las Vegas to coincide with the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show^® (CES)—provides a prescription for the homebuilding community and the future of the American home: healthy smart homes are no longer a luxury they can afford to ignore.

It just makes sense that our homes—the places where we spend the majority of our lives and which form the ecosystems of our families—should play an important role in our health. In a 2018 study on health and well-being at home conducted by The Farnsworth Group and Hanley Wood in conjunction with KB ProjeKt, two-thirds of home buyers now believe the right housing environment could cut their annual medical costs by 11% to 40%. At the same time, the wellness economy has become a $4.2 trillion market, growing at nearly twice the rate of the global economy in recent years.

KB ProjeKt brings the ideas of the wellness economy home, reimagining it as a “health hub” at the center of our lives and our health and well-being. KB ProjeKt began with a simple operating principle: collaboration. Key strategic partners from the fields of architecture, building sciences and technology came together to create this homebuilding research and development lab to explore social and technological shifts and how they might impact the future of home design. From the sharing economy and the wellness economy, to changing family structures and transportation as service, everything was on the table. The idea of personal health as a core sustainability principle quickly rose to the forefront.

“We asked ourselves, what if a home could play an active role in enhancing our health and helping us live more restful, well-nourished, relaxed and satisfying lives?’” said Jeff Mezger, chairman, president and CEO of KB Home. “And what if we could accomplish these goals while also providing a more sustainable and attainable home for everyday families?”

KB ProjeKt creates a health-oriented sanctuary with a wellness focus on air, water, light, nourishment, fitness, and thermal and sound comfort. A flex home design also adapts to life stages and enables freedom, mobility, and higher quality of life. Google Home forms the digital foundation for the home, with a system of IoT sensors that monitor the home’s environment.

However, the evolution of the home into a fully functioning, integrated smart home supporting health and well-being does not just belong to the future. There are several key principles that every homebuilder—and every home buyer—should consider today:

• New homes must sustain the people that live in them, as well as the environment. How do your homes make your homeowners’ lives easier, more satisfying and increase their overall well-being?
• Technology has exponentially increased our health and wellness capability and the efficiency with which we can deliver it. How do you use technology to integrate sustainable health and wellness into your homes?
• Building science has moved beyond traditional structural and systemic resiliency to encompass the human sensitivities of those who will be living in the home. How have the materials, building techniques and systems you use in your homes evolved to reflect this priority?
• Holistic health begins with a holistic approach to design. Are your homes systemically designed as total residential ecosystems supporting the health of their residents?
• Bending the cost curve is essential to widespread impact. What fundamental changes in operational models and processes are you making so that healthier homes are attainable at a variety of price points?

In recognizing KB ProjeKt with the Top Product of the Year honors, the Environmental Leader judges said, ““KB Home ProjeKt simplifies and streamlines the concept of living sustainably. This product has the potential to change the way we think about home ownership, leading to happier and healthier communities.” This is the third time that KB Home has been recognized, having won in 2015 for its Double ZeroHouse 2.0 and in 2017 for the original KB ProjeKt.

“We don’t normally have the opportunity to hit pause, focus on a single home, and see what’s possible,” said Matt Mandino, KB Home’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are pleased to be able to spur new thinking and make a meaningful contribution to the conversation about the future of the American home.”

Learn more about KB ProjeKt at www.kbhomeprojekt.com, or take a video tour at https://www.gotourhd.com/kb_home_projekt/2019/tour/video.

Learn more about KB Home’s sustainability efforts: https://www.kbhome.com/sustainability