Grand houses from little concepts grow.
Concept House V, the latest in the series of dwellings sponsored by the Greater Chicagoland Housing Foundation to introduce new building products, materials and ideas, is the biggest, most luxurious and most expensive version yet.
”It reeks of opulence,” said Martin Bartling, executive vice president of the Housing Foundation and of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.
Built in Libertyville by Cambridge Homes Inc., the house, which opens to the public Friday, is almost three times the size of the first member of the family, which was built seven years ago when the housing industry was in the grip of a recession.
Since that first 1,190-square-foot house in Elgin in 1981, the houses have grown steadily in size and price. Concept House II in Mundelein was a modest abode of about 1,268 square feet priced under $100,000 in 1983. This year`s 3,400-square-foot, three-bedroom model at Cambridge`s Interlaken Meadows community will sell for $398,000.
”Each house tries to tell a different story to a different market,”
said Cambridge Homes president Richard Brown.
Brown said the trustees of the Housing Foundation, all of whom are past presidents of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago, decide on the market for the house before they discuss innovations to be included.
The first three concept houses were designed to be affordable to younger buyers, Brown said. The last one, which sold for $229,000, was geared to the move-up and empty-nester market.
The ideal prospect for Concept House V, Brown said, would be a couple in their 40s with teenagers who want a house they don`t feel obliged to leave when their children depart.
The choice was based on the widely perceived ”graying of America,” said Brown, referring to the fact that the median age of Americans is rising as the Baby Boomers grow older. ”We follow the demographics,” he said.
”Theoretically, this is a house you wouldn`t have to move from as your lifestyle changes,” he said. ”It could be modified to fit any lifestyle.”
The key modification after the kids leave home, Brown pointed out, would be the closing off of the house`s second floor. That level is served by its own high-efficiency gas furnace that could be turned off to save energy if no one were living there.
The master bedroom suite is on the first floor, along with a library that could be used as a guest room, so that one-level living-easier on older legs- would be possible except when a large delegation of children and grandchildren showed up on the doorstep.
A number of the house`s features are designed to show that new or unusual products and techniques are as appropriate for expensive homes as for low-end models, Brown said. Luxury home buyers generally look for traditional materials and practices.
A key divergence from customary construction in this area was the use of a wood instead of a concrete foundation. Wood foundations were used back in Colonial times, Brown said, but are rare nowadays.
Pre-assembled wall sections made of chemically treated fir or pine were lowered into the excavation and nailed together. The spaces between the 2-by- 6-inch studs were packed with insulation, just as in a regular exterior wall.
While the overall cost of both foundations is about the same, Brown said, he pointed out that wood, unlike concrete, can be installed in any temperature, and takes only 4 hours to put in, compared with 10 days for concrete. With the insulation, he added, the heat loss is much lower than with concrete, and the basement is much simpler to finish.
Brown also noted that concrete is subject to cracking from curing and settlement, which he said is one of the biggest problems for builders. The treated wood won`t rot or burn and should last as long as concrete, he added. Like several of the other features, the wood foundation required a variance from local building codes. One of the purposes of Concept Houses, Brown said, is to prod municipal officials into accepting products and techniques not allowed by codes.
”We`re trying to introduce building officials and mayors and village trustees to new ideas and concepts so that next time they`ll say, `We know about that.` ”
As a result of the first concept house, Brown said, Elgin asked the Housing Foundation to study and suggest changes to its building and zoning codes, and city officials accepted most of the foundation`s recommendations.
The Housing Foundation is usually able to get the initial variances, he noted, whereas builders themselves are ”more suspect” in the eyes of municipal government. ”The Chicago area is not a place that embraces new ideas very often,” he said.
Along with the wood foundation, innovations in Concept House V include:
– Exterior facing made of 1/2-inch brick attached to plastic foam that can be put on like siding. The product looks like regular brick and can be used to create decorative brickwork such as quoining, but can be applied in any weather, Brown said. It is clipped to studs or wall sheeting.
Although the final cost is about the same as regular brick, the facing never needs tuckpointing and provides much greater insulation, Brown said. ”I can see it used as an accent on walls inside and out,” Bartling said.
– Shelf and cabinet systems supplied by a commercial kitchen cabinet maker that can be used in any room, taking the place of costly milled wood installations while preserving a custom appearance.
– Flexible copper gas pipe, which can be installed much more easily than ordinary rigid iron pipe, leading to the possibility of an increased number of gas outlets. The copper pipe also requires fewer joints and is thus less vulnerable to leaks.
In case Libertyville officials ”don`t feel comfortable” with the flexible pipe, Brown said, the house has been fitted with a parallel iron pipe system.
– Flexible plastic (polybutylene) water pipes.
– Parquet wood flooring chemically treated and hardened so that it never needs sanding. The rooms have a variety of parquet designs.
– Wood particle roof shingles that look like cedar shakes but are less expensive and less subject to cracking.
– Vinyl flooring in the garage, which is also heated so that it can be used as extra play or party space.
– A glass block wall alongside the whirlpool in the master bath, to provide both light and privacy.
The featured materials, which will be promoted in brochures and literature available to visitors to the house, were donated by the
manufacturers, who also pay a modest fee for advertising and upkeep of the home while it is open to the public. An architect and interior designer also donated their services.
The most prominent design feature of the house is the extensive use of volume ceilings that expand and sculpt the space of a room by rising and closing at different angles. Varying ceiling treatments are used throughout the house.
The shapes are so diverse, Brown said, that the framing of the roof took 30 days instead of the customary 2 days. The sumptuous dwelling was completed in the startlingly short span of 60 days, however.
The different ceiling lines, Brown noted, allow for an array of window lines that would not otherwise be possible. The grid-patterned windows are made of individual panes of insulated glass rather than a single pane overlaid by wood strips-a common and much less expensive type of window construction with a similar appearance.
Another unusual element is a bar positioned so that it opens almost facing the large foyer, confronting visitors as they come in. ”The foyer almost becomes a center for entertainment,” Brown said.
The basement, reached by a comparatively broad staircase in an effort to integrate it with the rest of the house, has 7 3/4-foot ceilings-somewhat higher than basements usually have-and below-ground windows giving on window wells to provide space and light.
Concept House V may represent a peak of luxury for the Housing Foundation project, if Bartling has his way. He said he hoped the group would go back to the first-time buyer as the market target.
”In the next house, I`d like to see something in the 1,400- to 1,500-square-foot range. I have totally different ideas for it.
”This one is very opulent. That was not our intention when we started out, although it still demonstrates a lot of new ideas, techniques and materials. We haven`t gone astray in that regard.”
The house, which is just off Butterfield Road between Ill. Hwy. 176 and Ill. Hwy. 137 in Libertyville, will have its public opening Friday and be open until the end of the year.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day but Friday, when it will be open from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
