New American Home in Winter Park

The New American Home carries a series of green certifications, such as the Florida Water Star “Gold” certification, and the National Green Building Standard “Emerald” certification, which is the highest of the four levels of achievement a home can attain.

The latest innovative technologies and building products now have a Winter Park address.

The National Association of Homebuilders International Show’s New American Home for 2012, located at 229 Alexander Place, Winter Park, features a wide array of new technology designed to cater to comfort and serenity. This year’s architect and builder was Phil Kean of Phil Kean Designs Inc. based in Winter Park.

Kean said one of his goals for the home was to conserve space.

“We did smart, small,” Kean said. “There are not a lot of hallways in the house.”

He said the purpose of his design is to optimize the use of space in the home. The house is currently set up with two bedrooms, but can accommodate up to five bedrooms if some rooms, like the workout room, are converted, Kean said. There is also a studio space that is set up with its own independent air conditioning system.

“We sort of set it up so that if you were an artist or something, you’d have a separate space to keep all the odors that you might [create] by painting, or doing any kind of crafts …,” he said.

In keeping with space conservation, equipment such as cable boxes and a Blu-ray player are kept in a separate room of the house. ZIO Group of Winter Park provided the technology in the home. Peter Shipp, principal with ZIO, said very little equipment is seen throughout the home.

“All of those sources are centrally located in the mechanical room so there’s no equipment throughout the house other than TVs, your remote and then built-in speakers,” Shipp said.

“You don’t see a lot of the technology in the house, but it’s there when you want to access it.”

There are seven televisions: five flat panel LCDs, one plasma television and one projection system.

Music lovers can enjoy their favorite tunes via three iPad control stations mounted on the walls, which can tune in to a range of music stations, such as Sirius XM Satellite Radio or Pandora. There is also a piano outfitted with a microphone, which allows its music to be played throughout the entire house.

To keep the house clean, the home has its own central vacuum inside a three-car garage, with inlets located throughout the house that suck up dust, dirt and small items when the vacuum is on. There are also outlets where someone can plug in a hose for more heavy-duty cleaning.

An alarm system also comes with the house that can be armed or disarmed remotely.

Rob Turner, interior designer for the project and principal of interior design for PKD studio, said the vision for the house was to create a throwback feel.

“The house is an interpretation of classic modern architecture,” Turner said. “It was more of a throwback and interpretive of modern design from the 50s and the 60s.”

One example of this is a chair located on the second floor designed by Eero Saarinen, a Finnish architect who designed the TWA terminal at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Turner also added his own personal touch by designing some of the items in the home, such as cocktail and dining tables, in conjunction with Robin Wade, a furniture maker in Alabama.

The home is also environmentally friendly, which Turner says can be viewed as a design challenge to some.

“A lot of designers are intimidated by that because they think they have to sacrifice design, but in reality, when you design your own pieces and work with local craftsmen and with people in your community, you actually have complete design freedom because you can make it however you want to,” Turner said.

Kean, who owns the home, estimates its market value to be $2.5 million. He is not planning to sell the home for at least two years, and will use it as his model home to showcase to potential clients. He said the home is designed with an individual in mind who wants to enjoy the suburban lifestyle.

“It’s not a big family home. You’re not going to have five kids in this house,” Kean said. “But you might have five kids that are grown and they come and visit.”