Berlin Lecture

As part of an ongoing ‘Lernen lernen durch Fragen fragen’ (Learning to learn through asking questions) lecture series organized by Something Fantastic, LABhaus will be presenting a lecture on new models of design efficiency at the Universität der Künste in Berlin on Thursday, January 13th.  The lecture specifically shall focus on the LABhaus on-demand delivery model, supply chain optimization to provide higher quality designer and construction at a more affordable price-point, and recent investments made in technological advancements.

Those interested in arranging for future lecture appearances relating to LABhaus in either Central Europe or the United States should make direct inquiries to nebel@labhaus.com.

Westchester Co. Custom ecoVilla

LABhaus is proud to preview its first project in New York State– a custom ecoVilla planned for a fall/winter 2010 construction start in Westchester County.  In addition to being the first LABhaus scheduled for construction in New York State, the home will feature such innovations as R40 wall construction, in-floor radiant heat, and dramatic new design elements set to debut in a revised ecoVilla line in the coming months.

The home will be built on a dramatic green-belt site with massive granite outcroppings and approximately seventy feet of vertical drop from one end of the lot to the other.  As a result of the unique site conditions, the owners chose to build a custom ecoVilla.   The building envelope itself is dominated by the highest of the granite outcroppings, with a down-slope fall off of approximately twenty feet.  As such, the house was conceived of as two distinct elements– a monolithic slab resting on the outcropping and a vertical tower connecting back to the down-slope side.

The ‘slab’ contains the primary public spaces and is relatively closed to the north and north west to ensure both energy performance and privacy from neighboring homes.  The ‘slab’ then opens to the south with massive terraces overlooking beautiful greenbelt views.  The ‘tower’ contains the private spaces and offers primarily east and south exposures for the bedrooms and baths.  The master bedroom and service spaces are on the upper level, with three children’s rooms on the lower level.  The master suite offers a small private terrace overlooking the greenbelt and a generous spa-style bath.  While the children’s rooms all are positioned above grade for privacy, the hallway offers direct access to a grade-level terrace and the rear yard beyond.  Additionally, the ‘tower’ has a full basement with storage area and space to eventually build out as a large playroom.

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Custom LABhaus in Southern New Jersey

Built on a vacant lot in an established neighborhood, just steps from schools and shopping, the home features 2438 sq ft of above-grade interior space and two car parking.

The first floor is generously laid out to provide for family living.  The sun-drenched kitchen is dominated by an over-scaled island and shares rear patio access with the adjacent family room.  The living and dining room feature a double-height gallery and massive windows to take advantage of the rear greenbelt.  The first floor also features a full guest bath, a private office or guest room, a rear vestibule entrance, and multiple closets to keep order.

The second floor features the family bedrooms, including a generous master suite, a large windowed laundry room, and a gallery open to the living room below.  The full basement offers 1301 sq ft of space for future expansion as a play room and art studio. The interior features the full standard LABhaus fittings package including sustainably forested 7″ select white oak plank flooring, custom stair cases, custom rift-sawn, grain-matched white oak cabinetry with solid-surface counter tops, and Jenn Air floating glass appliances with induction cooking.   The bathrooms feature Kohler stillness faucets, custom rift-sawn white oak cabinetry with under-mount sinks, white micro-crystal glass flooring, mosaic marble wet-bed showers, frameless glass shower doors, and honed marble accents.

Most impressively, the exterior shell is comprised of engineered wall systems with R40 (.025u) insulation.  This, combined with the high-efficiency packaged heat pumps, and energy-star fixtures throughout should result in exceptional low energy consumption

The LABhaus product line is sold throughout  the Mid-Atlantic through philaLAB.

Basic Specs:
2438 ft2 interior, plus full 1398 ft2 basement, and two-car parking (1-car garage and 1 car-port, opening to rear auto-court)
4BR, 3Ba

Performance/Sustainability:
-R40 polyurethane SIP construction
-R60+ Roof assembly with 7″ of polyurethane foam, 5″ of blown cellulose, and 2-4″ of rigid foam on the roof
-R19 insulation between the floors
-Ultra efficient packaged heat-pumps
-Short-run on-demand hot water
-Solar prep for state-subsidized array.
-R13 insulated foundation
-8000 psi fly ash pre-cast foundation
-Locally sourced cabinetry and finish materials
-Induction cooking
-Sustainably forested North American white oak plank flooring, site finished with non toxic finish
-Dual-flush toilets

Luxury:
-Select-grade 7″ hardwoods throughout
-9′ ceilings throughout
-Full custom kitchen with stainless steel soft-close drawers, book-matched rift-sawn white oak faces, and maple dove-tailed carcasses
-Custom crafted Corian counter-tops and finish details in kitchen
-Jenn-Air white floating glass appliances, induction cooking, and integrated dishwasher
-Wall-hung custom rift-sawn white oak vanities with Corian tops and under-mount sinks
-Under-mount cast-iron soaking tub in Master
-Custom shower glass and glass railings
-Omnia hand-crafted stainless steel hardware throughout
-8′ custom white oak doors throughout
-high-end lighting throught
-Kohler Stance faucets in baths
-Kohler zero-radius stainless under-mount sink and Karbon faucet in kitchen
-24″x24″ micro-crystal white glass slab floor tile
-Limestone mosaic accent tile
-Color night-vision video intercom entry system
-Duravit wall-hung toilets

Family Friendly:
-Convertible main-floor 4th bedroom with double doors for use as play room/office/guest space
-Full bath on main floor for guests
-Pantry, entry closet, broom closet, and linen closet in service
-Proper entrance hall
-Separate rear entrance with tiled vestibule and closet
-Central kitchen with large island,
-Rear parking to hide cars and provide protected basket-ball space for boys
-Extra-large second-floor laundry with windows and views

Value:
-Approximate 50-70% lower construction costs than similar homes
-exceptionally low utility costs
-all materials used can be refinished or refurbished multiple times
-zero-maintenaince exterior (fiber-cement and synthetic stucco)

iF22 previews new inFill urban housing program

The inFill model line offer oases in dense urban settings. Click on the image above to explore the current inFill offerings, including the new 1917 Sq Ft iF22 starting at $239,900

• *Designed for restrictive inner-city lots, iIncluding town-homes and zero-lot-line homes 14-30’ wide.
• *Unique layouts allowing an exceptional sense of space and access to the natural environment despite confined lot dimensions.
• *Modern interpretations of classic urban forms, including regional housing typologies such as shot-gun houses, camel-backs, and row homes
• *Two and- three-story designs
• *Each model will offer multiple configurations allowing for site variations such as corner or mid-block lots.

the iF22 plan offers a modern take a classic urban form, and brings garden living to the urban environment

iF22 suggested retail price $239,900-$263,400

• *3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 Bath
• *2 stories
• *One-car garage parkin
• *9′-6″ ceilings on first floor, 9′ ceilings on second floor, 8′-0″ interior and exterior doors
• *Exceptional courtyard plan offering direct exterior space for all major living areas
• *Spectacular rear-facing master suite with spa bath,  large walk-in closet, and private balcony
• *Exceptional chefs kitchen with 16′ sliding glass wall
• 22′ wide by 65′ deep
• *1917 (1682 sq ft living, 235 sq ft garage and bicycle storage), plus 163 sq ft exterior balcony

LABhaus in the Twitterverse-Follow Us!

As we enter a very busy and hopefully fruitful phase, we invite our friends to engage us directly through social media.  We are making efforts to deliver real-time updates and respond to questions via both facebook and our twitter feed.  Please join in on the conversation!

www.twitter.com/labhaus

Throughout the coming weeks, we will be making a range of new model and distribution announcements.  We also will be linking to preview images of our on-going projects via our Flickr account through Twitter.

ecoVilla luxury program debuts

One of three courtyards integrated into the main living spaces

LABhaus is proud to announce the introduction of of the ecoVilla housing line.

The ecoVilla line was conceived in response the increasing trend of significant infill homes being built in inner-ring suburbs and resort communities through the US.  With a LABhaus ecoVilla, home buyers wanting a large, premium home can do so with ease and without the guilt.  The first ecoVilla released features over 4500 sq ft of living space, yet enjoys a substantially reduced carbon footprint relative to comparable conventional homes.  Further, the ecoVilla line encourages a unique indoor-outdoor lifestyle to take advantage of the environment it preserves.

ecoVilla models start at $269,900 turn-key.

Luxury without the guilt: The eco-villa series offers grandly scaled sustainable luxury centered around inviting gardens. Please explore the current ecoVilla offerings.

Indiana Building System Launches LABhaus

LABhaus is proud to announce Middlebury, Indiana, based Indian Building Systems LLC as its exclusive production partner through the Midwest.

Indiana Building Systems is a well-known and respected company. Having built more than 25,000 homes in the last 30 years, Indiana Building Systems has consistently maintained a policy of continuous improvement and innovative design. Indiana Building Systems has been involved in a broad range of progressive modular housing projects, including the cutting-edge reconstruction of New Orleans through the Make It Right Foundation

The company stresses high quality in-plant construction and provides onsite assistance for the builder until the units are completely erected. This combination insures complete job quality and on time completion.All Indian Building Systems homes are built with the highest level of quality and craftsmanship. The construction in progress in the factory is protected from wear, warping, and damage caused by elements and the framing of floors, walls and roof assemblies are done with precision instruments and steel fixtures. Indiana Building Systems factory-squared panels assure plumb walls with windows and doors that fit and open precisely, and we use brand name building materials in construction.

Indiana Building Systems has an abundance of experience designing, customizing and constructing factory built-homes for many Midwest states: Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin.

For Information on purchasing a LABhaus home built by an Indiana Building Systems builder, please fill out an inquiry form below:

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Campus housing receives a makeover

LABhaus is proud to announce the initiation of a campus housing program in partnership with Sun Building Systems.  LABhaus design allows institutions and investor groups to undertake high-grade housing projects on tight budgets and constrained time frames.  The following project is currently under development in a dense, transitional urban environment.  Those interested in LABhaus multi-family and institutional products are encouraged to explore the partners page on this website.

The LABhaus system allows for up to four stories, which can be manipulated to provide a great deal of design texture without great cost

A new way home

At the dawn of the twentieth century, architects and social visionaries proclaimed that housing in the coming age would be ruled by industrialization. Cities would be remade as modern, progressive utopias–stamped out of great industrial workshops and inhabited by those whose hands and minds crafted them.

One hundred years later, however, the housing industry has unquestionably failed to obtain this vision.  In a century that produced flight, space-travel, telecommunication, computers, nuclear physics, pharmacology, and the internet, the two greatest innovations in housing were drywall and the thirty-year mortgage.  Every other thing we consume has become more advanced, more reliable, more attractive, and more affordable.  Housing has become bigger, flimsier, and more expensive.  In a world driven by innovation, housing has by-and-large been driven primarily by inflation.

This inflationary trajectory exploded into the great housing boom of the 2000′s–an era in which amateur hobbyists with neither training nor oversight could leave their rightful avocations and make a killing veiling crumbling old homes in a thin veneer of contemporary taste.  Caught up in the frenzy of free money and flipping, housing in the early 2000′s became little more than the most fertile soil in which to grow the national money supply through ever more debt piled on the backs of ever more burdened homeowners.  Housing produced monetary policy, not homes.

The 2000′s boom has crashed into the end of the decade with substantial consequence.  In September of 2005, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that new single-family homes were being built at an annual rate of 1,798,000 units. This was down slightly from earlier months.  The recently released October 2008 figures show homes being built at an annual rate of 531,000 units.  This represents a 71% decline in construction activity in just three years and the lowest rate of construction since 1982.  Only 23 months since 1960 have seen fewer single family units constructed than were constructed in October of 2008.

So what now?

Innovation.

LABhaus is a project five years in the making.  Born of an urban luxury development group, LABhaus embodies progressive design, luxurious fittings, premium construction, and environmental awareness. Even the most basic LABhaus designs were conceived in the vein of multi-million-dollar lofts and boutique hotels.  LABhaus homes feature the finest Italian kitchens available, spectacular designer finish packages, custom-milled bathroom fixtures, and are powered by the sun.  LABhaus designs are intrinsically modern, yet always elegant and restrained.  LABhaus plans are practical.  They feature generous room sizes, ample storage, and sundrenched spaces.  Yet what destinguishes LABhaus is attainability.

At LABhaus, our core design philosophy extends beyond architecture.  The purchase and construction process itself was a core component of LABhaus design.  Typical ’boutique’ development groups use design and luxury to create an air of exclusivity and to maximize profit at all levels; ‘design’ and ‘luxury’ come to mean astronomical prices.  Typical ‘affordable’ development groups strip away as much comfort and quality as possible to maximize profits; ‘affordablity’ means suffering thread-bare accomodations and questionable quality.   LABhaus is not driven the standard mission of selling as little as possible for as much as possible.  On the contrary, LABhaus is driven by a mission to offer as much as possible for the least possible price.  LABhaus homes are not priced to the highest possible comparable value in a given market.  LABhaus homes are priced to the lowest production cost in a national market.  The sole regional variance is the price of land.

The unique LABhaus purchase model offers consumers MSRP pricing and offers landholders an opportunity become LABhaus partners without having to engage in typical real estate financing models which lead to massive price inflation for end-users.  The production process is similarly refined.  Drawing inspiration from the automotive industry, LABhaus invests substantial energy into design and innovation in advance to create the most attractive, most efficient homes possible and offers outstanding standard configurations and option packages.  As a result LABhaus’s industry-leading supply chain offers consumer’s fittings and features previously unfathonomable at such an affordable price point.  LABhaus kitchens, for example, would cost as much as 50% of the total cost of the house if purchased at retail.

LABhaus is currently partnered with two of North America’s leading home builders, Sun Building Systems LLC and Indiana Building Systems,  and is working with local partners throughout the East Coast and Mid-West of the United States.  Please explore our product and let us know how we can make your dreams a reality.