KTGY-designed Luxury Condos Earn National Recognition
KB Home’s LEED Platinum Community in Los Angeles, One of the Largest in California
IRVINE, CA – February 20, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture + Planning, is pleased to announce its latest achievements in home design excellence. Primera Terra community has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) with a 2012 Best in American Living Award (BALA) Platinum award in the category of Neighborhood Design. The landmark LEED Platinum certified project, one of the largest in California, is built by KB Home (NYSE: KBH) and is comprised of 52 luxury for-sale condominium homes in Playa Vista, Calif.
According to KTGY Group’s Manny Gonzalez, AIA, LEED AP, and principal, “Primera Terra meets the standards of the highest energy-efficient rating in the U.S., without incorporating a solar power system or other renewable energy resource. KB Home controlled costs by performing cost/value reviews and proved that a LEED Platinum project can be designed and built without a significant increase in construction costs.”
“Tight construction and efficient-building envelope were engineered to maximize energy efficiency and keep resident’s utility costs down,” said Alan Scales, KTGY studio director and the project’s designer. “Primera Terra is 40% more energy efficient than the new home standards set by the state of California, which creates tremendous savings for Primera Terra residents.” Each owner has an energy monitoring system to track their energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs online or via smart phone.
Scales stated that the Primera Terra community was designed to address today’s challenging economic climate, reducing construction costs while increasing the marketability of smaller home sizes and creating a healthier, more comfortable, more economical living environment. Located at the easternmost portion of Phase I in the Playa Vista master planned community, KTGY created an innovative re-design solution atop an existing subterranean garage, going from 4 and 5 stories down to 3 stories without losing units and minimizing new slab penetrations. Shop fabricated walls and floor trusses provided high quality, streamlined construction and less waste.
Primera Terra organizes homes around a central courtyard that provides intimate ‘outdoor rooms’ for residents to relax and reflect. The courtyard features a linear fountain, a ‘living green wall,’ an outdoor fireplace, barbecue grills and a community vegetable and fruit garden. With contemporary styling, the three-story building relates well with the surrounding neighborhood, providing private patios to activate public streets and articulated facades to create a strong urban edge.
The Primera Terra community is located in a highly walkable neighborhood, adjacent to community parks, walking trails, dog parks, and the community center. It is convenient to transit, airport, employment, and entertainment. “Primera Terra’s live, work, shop, play, and green environment maximizes market appeal and minimizes carbon footprint, setting a new standard for production home communities,” Scales noted.
This announcement comes on the heels of last fall’s announcement that Primera Terra earned U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) 2011 LEED for Homes award in the Multifamily category. Primera Terra also won 2011 ENR California Magazine’s Best Multifamily Residential Project Award.
For more than 25 years, the Best in American Living Awards, commonly known as BALA, have raised the bar for design excellence in the building industry and have highlighted those builders, architects, interior designers, remodelers, developers and land planners who have achieved superior levels of creativity and innovation.
Other 2012 BALA award-winners, designed by KTGY, include Foursquare Senior Living at 12th & Burnside in Portland, Oregon, which won a Platinum award in the category of Multifamily, On the Boards; two BALA awards for Paragon at Old Town in Monrovia, Calif., a Gold award in the category of Rental Development up to 4 Stories and Silver award for Smarter Growth Community; and a Silver BALA in the category of Multifamily Housing up to 5 Stories for Fusion in Sunnyvale, Calif.
About KB Home
KB Home is one of the largest and most recognized homebuilding companies in the United States. Since its founding in 1957, the company has built more than half a million quality homes. KB Home’s signature Built to Order(TM) approach lets each buyer customize their new home from lot location to floor plan and design features. In addition to meeting strict ENERGY STAR(R) guidelines, all KB homes are highly energy efficient to help lower monthly utility costs for homeowners, which the company demonstrates with its proprietary KB Home Energy Performance Guide(TM) (EPG). A leader in utilizing state-of-the-art sustainable building practices, KB Home was named the #1 Green Homebuilder in a 2010 study by Calvert Investments and the #1 Homebuilder on FORTUNE magazine’s 2011 World’s Most Admired Companies list. Los Angeles-based KB Home was the first homebuilder listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and trades under the ticker symbol “KBH.” For more information about KB Home’s new home communities, call 888-KB-HOMES or visit www.kbhome.com.
About KTGY Group, Inc.
Celebrating its 20th year, KTGY Group, Inc., Architecture and Planning, provides comprehensive planning and award-winning architectural design services for residential communities, retail, hospitality, mixed-use and related specialty developments. KTGY delivers innovative solutions that reflect clear understanding of development, market trends and financial performance and takes particular pride in its highly motivated and principal led studios. Serving clients worldwide, KTGY maintains offices in Irvine, Oakland and Santa Monica, Calif., Denver, Colo., and Tysons Corner, Va. See www.ktgy.com.
