By John Danielian, AIA, LEED AP, ABC Green Home 5.0 TerraVerde Lead Architect 

High-performance homebuilding is no longer driven by early adopters. Building codes now demand higher standards for energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality and resilience. While today’s homebuyers expect homes that are healthier, quieter, more comfortable and less expensive to operate. Those expectations are defining the new baseline for residential construction.

Meeting those expectations requires more than specifying better products. It requires designing homes as complete building systems. Framing influences insulation. Windows affect heating and cooling loads. Roofing, air sealing and moisture management determine how the building envelope performs over decades of occupancy. Mechanical systems, lighting, water management and home technology all depend upon the quality of the architecture surrounding them. Homeowners experience the performance of the home as a complete system, not as a collection of individual products.

ABC Green Home 5.0 TerraVerde brings that approach to Temecula, one of Southern California’s most important and active homebuilding markets. Southern California is also where our team is located. California’s Title 24 residential energy code is among the most demanding in the world, creating a rigorous benchmark for architects, builders and manufacturers. The award-winning ABC Green Home Project has never been about simply meeting code. Our work is to take those requirements and beat them into shape by creating a zero-energy luxury home that demonstrates how high performance can support beautiful architecture, exceptional comfort and long-term value. That is what we do.

TerraVerde is being designed as a modern agrarian residence that responds to its Southern California setting while incorporating the best practices our team has refined through each previous ABC Green Home. Advanced framing, a conditioned attic, a high-performance building envelope, efficient mechanical systems, water conservation, solar energy, battery storage and integrated home technology are being considered as parts of one coordinated design. Wildfire resilience, durability and indoor environmental quality are also central to the home because they are increasingly important to builders and homeowners throughout the nation.

Manufacturers continue to play an essential role in advancing high-performance homebuilding, investing in the research, engineering and product development that help architects and builders deliver healthier, more energy-efficient, resilient and durable homes. TerraVerde provides an opportunity to demonstrate how those innovations work together within a thoughtfully designed residence, showcasing complete building systems rather than isolated products. As the project continues through architectural development and into construction, we welcome manufacturers who share this vision to consider joining ABC Green Home 5.0 as Product Partners, collaborating with our design and construction team while helping demonstrate practical solutions that move residential construction forward.

High-performance homebuilding also depends upon the people who will design and build the next generation of homes. ABC Green Home 5.0 will once again collaborate with the California Building Industry Association’s California Homebuilding Foundation, providing student job shadowing opportunities that introduce young people to careers in architecture, engineering, construction and the skilled trades. Developing tomorrow’s workforce is every bit as important as developing tomorrow’s building technologies.

The homes we build today will serve American families for decades to come. By combining thoughtful architecture, proven building science, innovative products and the expertise of builders, manufacturers and skilled professionals, we continue to raise the standard for residential construction. That commitment has guided the ABC Green Home Project from the beginning and will continue to shape TerraVerde as a zero-energy luxury home designed for Southern California, informed by one of the world’s toughest residential building codes and created to demonstrate what our industry can achieve together.

Manufacturers and product partners interested in participating in ABC Green Home 5.0 TerraVerde during the active BIM integration and specification development phase can contact Nick Slevin at nslevin@builder.media. Companies and consumers interested in following the project’s architectural development, virtual model home rollout and construction progress can also register for updates at  www.abcgreenhome.com.