Masonry Magazine October 1992 Page. 13
New Materials and Concepts
in NCWA Lifestyle Home
The just completed 2,300 square foot Lifestyle 2000 home, sponsored by NCMA, features products and systems to show how homes of the future will meet changing needs.
ADVANCED CONCRETE masonry products and systems, along with energy saving heating and cooling, ventilation and utility control systems, and a host of other state-of-the art building products and system are now in use in the revolutionary concrete masonry (concrete block) Lifestyle 2000 Home located just outside Washington, D.C. in Bowie, Maryland.
The just-completed 2,300 square foot Lifestyle 2000 home, sponsored by the Herndon, Virginia based National Concrete Masonry Association, is designed to show how homes of the future will adapt to changing family needs. The Lifestyle 2000 Home also offers a preview of how homes will be designed and built in the next century and serves as a showcase for state of the art home systems and construction technology.
The home is located at the National Association of Home Builders' National Research Home Park in Bowie, Maryland, about twenty miles east of Washington, D.C. It was designed by Jorge Pardo, AIA, NCMA's director of product development and research, to demonstrate new building concepts and test new applications for conventional and innovative concrete masonry materials.
Demonstrates advantages
"This project demonstrates to home builders everywhere the advantages of concrete masonry units for residential construction," NCMA President John Heslip explained. "Construction of this project has allowed us to accumulate experience and generate data vital to the increased acceptance of new as well as existing concrete masonry products in residential construction."
Adaptability, the key to accommodating changing lifestyles, is the basis for the Lifestyle 2000 philosophy. As occupants and their children age, their needs change. The Lifestyle home was designed with that flexibility in mind.
By substituting durable concrete masonry products for nearly fifty percent of the conventional lumber structural and wall members, the Lifestyle 2000 home is fireproof and built to last. Special wiring, installed through masonry troughs without conduit, will keep the house up-to- date well into the next century. Besides providing electricity, a single cable provides control and coordination of systems such as heating, utilities, appliances, and provides audio and computer lines throughout the house.
The Lifestyle home serves as a showcase for innovative applications of standard concrete block, available
THE 2,300 SQUARE FOOT LIFESTYLE 2000 Home is designed to show how homes of the future will adapt to changing needs. By substituting durable concrete masonry products for nearly fifty percent of the conventional lumber and structural wall members, the home is highly resistant to fire and built to last.
MASONRY-SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1992 13