Members of the Design Committee of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shared their 10 top trends for 2011 at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando. The committee placed the highest priority on the growing concern for health and the environment, and secondly, the paradigm shift in the economy and its impact on lifestyles across generations.
Favorite trends: Downsizing (trend 3) and Retire-in-Place, Multigenerational Living (4). These are macro trends The Trend Curve has been talking about for the past two years. Read on:
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HOME BUILDERS’ DESIGN COMMITTEE
RELEASES 1O TRENDS IN HOME BUILDING FOR 2011
AT INTERNATIONAL BUILDERS’ SHOW
ORLANDO, Jan. 13, 2011 – The 10 trends for 2011 released at the International Builders’ Show are:
1. A Holistic Approach to Home Building: The entire building industry will begin to place a high priority on integrating natural resources, health and community concerns into building design. This new holistic approach examines the impact of all elements inside the building, ranging from water conservation and indoor air quality to minimization of waste and toxin emissions. Planned communities will become the norm to integrate people of all ages and to encourage a healthy and convenient lifestyle.
By 2030, all members of the Baby Boom generation will have reached age 65 or older and comprise 18% of the U.S. population
2. Multi-Family Homes: Multi-family housing, including adaptive reuse, rezoned single-family neighborhoods, live-work projects and infill opportunities, are a few of the viable alternatives being embraced by all social classes.
3. Downsizing: Expect the building industry to respond with smaller, more efficient square footage that reduces building waste and utilizes technology.
4. Retire-in-Place, Multigenerational Living: With two and three generations living together, home designs will accommodate the elderly with areas for privacy on the first floor, living quarters for their children on the upper floor, and rooms for their grandchildren on sublevels. Homes will feature a large kitchen for shared meals on the main level with private morning kitchens on other levels.
5. Remodeling: The gross volume of remodeling now exceeds that of new single-family construction. Homeowners are finding new ways to finance remodeling, whether that is to modify the home for elder care, to accommodate children and their families, or to make the home suitable for cluster families.
Frank Lloyd Wright
6. Resurgence of Mid-Century Design: Organic architecture will express clean simplicity through the integration of nature, floor plans with an abundance of natural light, and passive solar consideration to reduce energy consumption, reflecting the principles set forth post World War II by Frank Lloyd Wright.
7. Reinventing and Re-energizing Streetscapes: Front elevations that are unique, targeted and memorable will project greater impact through an interaction of styles, textures, color and materials.
8. Americanization/Globalization: Global thinking will become evident in all aspects of home building through the cross-pollination of cultures among artists, designers, architects, builders and developers.
9. Fundamental Financing: Builders will have clearer goals to better match expenses with revenues and to offer added value to build buyer confidence through transparency.
10. Timeshares and Travel Clubs: As an alternative to buying a second home, people will choose to buy timeshares and travel clubs, which are less risky, significantly less costly, and offer thousands of choices in worldwide locations.