The Residence of the Future to Be Designed in Lexington, Kentucky, Sponsored by VANHOOSECO

LOUDON, Tenn., May 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Global climate is not only warming but becoming more severe, resulting in major changes to weather events. Changes such as hurricanes and their resultant storm surges, tornadoes, drought-induced forest fires, localized rainfall and regional storm systems deliver multiple inches of rain while expanding known flood zones within river valleys and coastal areas. This is creating a dire need for a change to structural building systems worldwide. One company, VANHOOSECO®, is addressing the need to alter the home building and construction industry.

VANHOOSECO®, a highly innovative precast concrete manufacturer from Knoxville, Tennessee, initially addressed this issue with the creation of the EnviroCast precast concrete insulated wall system. They have used their product on numerous custom homes throughout the Southeastern region of the United States. Selective homebuilders who saw the need for a sustainable, environmentally friendly construction method has made EnviroCast an ever-increasing go-to-building material in recognition of the planet's changing climate. The EnviroCast concrete panel with expanded polystyrene insulation and metal studs once installed is ready for interior buildout. Customers love the durability and sustainability of their product.

Not satisfied with merely a successful precast concrete wall system, VANHOOSECO® has designed and engineered a completely new home structural system that will create a paradigm shift away from wooden stick-built structures. This new sustainable home development model is called the "EnviroHome." The EnviroHome will have positive environmental impact on the future of residential design. Environmentally resistant homes that have minimal impact to the environment will become the norm for the housing industry. For that matter, the entire building and design sector of global economies will be required to adapt.

The EnviroHome model provides for that need to adapt. It will be a non-cellulose precast concrete constructed home with cold formed steel interior and roof truss construction. No wood structural pieces nor paper cladded wall board will be used in its development. Therefore, with no cellulose, it immediately becomes fire-resistant and mold resistant. Impacts to flooded homes come primarily from mold formation on cellulose wall pieces, potential wood rot and pest issues may exist after the water recedes.

VANHOOSECO® has now offered a $10,000 design award for the best of the college architectural and design student's creativity in regard to the next version of the EnviroHome at the University of Kentucky's Design Charrette. "We wanted to initiate a learning program for disseminating the introduction of the EnviroHome to academia, while tapping into this new generation's creativity and out of the box thinking," said Mr. Don Atkins, President of VANHOOSECO®. "This will be the first generation that will live their entire lives with climate change. We wanted to ensure a complete handoff of technology and design going forward. These will be the design professionals that will take EnviroCast and the EnviroHome concepts worldwide," Mr. Atkins added.

The University of Kentucky's College of Design will provide student input at the upcoming Design Charrette on the Lexington Campus at Pence Hall from the 10th through 13th of May 2019. Additional invitations have been extended to the University of Cincinnati's, School of Architecture and Interior Design and Western Kentucky University's, School of Planning, Design and Construction. Architectural faculty of those schools, the leadership at VANHOOSECO®, and construction leads of Gray Construction will serve as charrette judges. The public is welcome to attend the awards ceremony at Miller Hall on the Lexington Campus of the University of Kentucky at 5:30pm, Monday, May 13^th.

The Design Charrette concept was first used at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts School of Design in Paris, France. The word Charrette is French for small cart. That small cart would be pulled through the classroom at the end of an architectural design exercise. That small cart came to symbolize the summation of all the students' designs and creativity.

"With climate change affecting the nature in which we build new homes, there will be a paradigm shift within residential development worldwide," Ralph Tharp, principal planner of VANHOOSECO said. 

Media Contact Ralph Tharp, AICP [email protected] 636-222-7476

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