Call it a test kitchen, design lab, product showcase or educational tool disguised as a home. Whatever you call it, it will likely have implications for both residential and commercial construction, at least if history is any indication.

NCHI has sponsored a showcase house at IBS for the past 26 years. Each house has two roles: the first as a showcase for products, technologies and design, the second as a home for whoever ultimately buys it.

The homes have introduced a host of design ideas, materials and product applications, including:

• Open floor plans (1984).
• Master bedroom retreats with separate his/her bathrooms and closets (1987), an office alcove (1988), a home gym (1989), a sitting room and morning kitchen (1992) and a private office (1999).
• Suites over the garage.
• Specific floor plans for non-traditional and emerging lifestyles, including empty-nesters (1987), multiple generations (1993), blended families (2000), and singles and second homes for active adults (both in 2003).
• "Swing" or "flex" spaces, including basements, upper-floor lofts and garage suites.

Many zoning and planning boards, including the Southeastern Economic Development Corp., a non-profit redevelopment group in San Diego, encourage multifamily developers to use single-family residential design elements to reduce perceived density, give identity to developments and its individual dwelling units, add visual interest and blend with the surrounding area.

But at the showcase home this year, the focus is as much on technology as appearance. Sandy Dunn, chair of the board of NAHB and a builder from Point Pleasant, WV, called the house the most technologically advanced ever. And it "isn't technology for technology's sake," he said. "This is technology that makes this home more energy-efficient, more user-friendly and more fun."

Bill Nolan, chair of the New American Home Task Force and president of the Nolan Group--a housing industry consulting firm in Altamonte Springs, FL--said construction was a bit of a challenge. Las Vegas building inspectors saw materials and building techniques they weren't accustomed to seeing in residential construction.

In fact, Nolan said, the residential inspector assigned to the house "recognized there were aspects of the home that were outside his area of expertise. He actually reached out to the city's commercial inspectors and asked them to review some of the plans."

Because the home is as much a laboratory as a showcase, product suppliers often get involved in the installation of their products, with engineers and other experts supervising applications and installations. NCHI said "tremendous effort" went into the green details of the home, including:

• Site development: The house was sited to optimize solar resources and incorporates landscape design to limit water and energy demand.
• Resource Efficiency: To minimize the quantity of materials used and reduce construction waste, the builder utilized advanced framing techniques--including pre-manufactured trusses and floor systems--as well as recycled building materials and new materials manufactured from renewable resources or materials made with fewer resources than traditional products.
• Water Efficiency: The house has under-sink on-demand water heaters, control-activated recirculation, water-conserving appliances, low-flow faucets and toilets and motion sensors on sink fixtures. The exterior implements a low-volume weather-controlled drip irrigation system with a water supply supplemented by a cistern that collects rainwater and yard run-off through an inter-connected yard drain system.
• Indoor Environmental Quality: Green products include low-VOC carpets, carpet padding and paint and low-formaldehyde plywood.
• Digital Media: Imperium Smart Systems LLC combined Windows® Media Center, Extenders for Windows Media Center and a variety of products from the media center ecosystem to deliver a connected home solution.
• Energy Efficiency: The house uses a proprietary gas-powered heating and cooling system with a SEER rating of 18 combined with other energy-efficient features, including low-e windows, advanced insulation, vertical and horizontal solar overhangs and window louvers, to achieve a Five Star-plus HERS rating of 57. This is before factoring in the installation of a 12,000+ kHz solar panel system striving for a net-zero level of electrical consumption.

Sanyo Energy (USA) Corp., a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric Co., donated 56 innovative solar panels that were integrated in trellis and awning structures. Other energy efficient features include: insulated concrete forms (ICF) that were used for the basement and structural walls, whole-house instantaneous tankless water heaters, a rooftop solar water heating system, an Energy Star Advanced Lighting Package, lighting control occupancy sensors and Energy Star appliances.

Insulating concrete forms--concrete is sandwiched between two insulating layers of foam--require less energy to heat and cool, according to the Portland Cement Association. Concrete wall systems can also increase stability of properties in hurricane zones and create quiet, more comfortable indoor environments.