Page 20 - Green Builder May-June 2017 Issue

Experience The Flex House

Shelter Dynamics and Green Builder Media will exhibit The
®
Flex House at three premier North American trade shows
over the next several months. Attendees of PCBC in San
Diego will have the first glimpse of this innovative dwelling
while it is featured on the showroom floor.
■ PCBC: San Diego, Calif., June 28-29, 2017
■
■ Solar Power International:
■
Las Vegas, Nev., September 10-13, 2017
Gutterman. The Arc House had a distinctive Craftsman aesthetic, ■ ■ Consumer Electronics Show:
with generous amounts of wood, knee braces and warm, earth-toned Las Vegas, Nev., January 9-12, 2018
colors. But The Flex House can pull off modern and other styles,
ensuring it will appeal to many different customers and fit into many
different settings, including new modern developments and “pocket” Factory Advantages
neighborhoods. Both The Arc House and The Flex House are modular, factory-built
homes. This controlled environment offers several advantages.
Smart and Sustainable Building materials are protected, and waste and site disturbance
Right-sized living applies to more than square footage; it extends to are minimized. The factory setting also ensures good quality control.
energy and water usage and material choices, too. The Flex House is “When you have a stable work crew and you’re making multiple
built with a high-performance envelope, and it will showcase energy- units, whether or not they’re customized, it takes some of the
efficient HVAC and appliances and water-saving plumbing fixtures. uncertainty out of the process,” says Ron Jones, president of Green
But smart home technologies will also play an important role in Builder Media. “The result is improved quality and a streamlined
®
making it a sustainable dwelling. production schedule.”
Like The Arc House, The Flex House will demonstrate the To meet the allowable dimension thresholds for highway travel, the
convergence of smart home and solar technologies, and with its solar prototype will be transported as two modules. The Shelter Dynamics
PV array and storage battery, it can be completely self-sufficient when vision is to eventually create Flex House communities without having
it comes to energy. But The Flex House goes beyond energy efficiency to transport the units for long distances.
and improved comfort by demonstrating the concept of “intelligent “The idea is to build temporary factories and train local labor,
water”—responsive technologies that save water by communicating which will have a vested interest in the subdivision,” explains
with users. Other technologies will demonstrate what Gutterman Gautreaux. “The factory area then becomes community space.”
likes to call “Smart Home 2.0.” The prototype will travel to the PCBC show in San Diego at the
These include advanced geo-fencing capabilities—the ability end of June. Look for more coverage of The Flex House over the next
of home systems to detect that the occupant’s vehicle is near the several months, as Green Builder magazine takes a “deep dive” into
home, and making appropriate adjustments to lighting, HVAC, the various aspects of its design, construction and performance. GB
etc.—but also to location sensing within the home. This capacity
enables systems or components to adjust themselves or shut off “The factory environment encourages really
when occupants aren’t in the room. good and detailed planning early on, down to
“These are just a few of the ways that homes will start optimizing
themselves,” says Gutterman. “As homes become smarter, we’ll start the locations of outlets and switches.”
to live more efficiently and more appropriately.” Ron Jones, President, Green Builder Media Bosch
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Jinko
American Standard
DuPont
PROJECT SPONSORS Toyota
BaySeal

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18 GREEN BUILDER May/June 2017 www.greenbuildermedia.com

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