Professional Builder

2007 Best in American Living Awards

-- 2/1/2008

View the 2007 Best In American Living Award Winners

Building a new home is an incredibly complex process; it pulls together hundreds of people, requires clear communication and often involves executing near-impossible details. The result we all desire is a living environment people can call home. In the abstract, the concept seems nebulous. But during the Best in American Living Awards judging, what is abstract and nebulous becomes very real.

In the 2007 Best in American Living Awards, the judges poured over hundreds of entries and recognized homes that, in the most specific sense, represent our concept of living. Every year, that understanding shifts slightly, and we see new trends emerge, old trends resurface and long-standing trends strengthen.

The judges identified eight trends that stood out. Many of them emerged in our fabulous Home of the Year, which rests in the middle of pine forest alongside a golf course in the panhandle of Florida. And, new this year, the judges recognized a Room of the Year, one space that is so dynamic and inspiring they felt it deserved special recognition.

As you look through the winners, note the eight trends the judges identified:

The evolution of outdoor living spaces continues.
Boldness of color and form stands out in both interior and exteriors.
Houses convey a more human scale.
Wood is ascendant in interior trim and details.
The streetscape has evolved into a form of art.
Designers are reinterpreting what contemporary means.
Urban infill pulls all elements of living together.
Modular homes offer heightened design.

View images and read more information about the 2007 BALA winners

BALA Judges

Kate Brennan, Mary Cook and Associates, Chicago

Dan Buffington, Buffington Homes L.P., Seabrook Island, S.C.

Georganne Derick, Merchandising East, Ellicott City, Md.

Barry Glantz, Glantz and Associates Architects Inc., St. Louis, Mo.

Dan Gorski, Veridian Homes, Madison, Wis.

Victor Mirontschuk, EDI Architecture P.C., New York

Wendy Ney Manley, Manley Partners, Pottstown, Pa.

Anne Olson, Olson Architecture, Niwot, Colo.

Smart Growth Judges

Bruce Hardesty, Hardesty Homes, Chesterfield, Mo.

Steve Noble, Noble Custom Homes, Waite Park, Minn.

Jim Sattler, Jim Sattler Homes, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Ed Tombari, NAHB, Washington, D.C.

Hud Judges

Stephen Shelley, HUD Chicago Office of Housing

Andrea Vrankar, HUD Cleveland Office of Public Housing

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