Home: The Serenity, by Jayman MasterBUILT
Designer: David Allan

David Allan, Central Design Manager for Jayman MasterBUILT, has created a floor plan that he is particularly proud of. Destined to be the grand prize in the Foothills Hospital 2006 Home Lottery, The Serenity will be all that the name implies, and more. However, it has been a long road to get to this home design.

 “A Lottery Home is a lot of fun to do because you get to be creative,” says David. “However, you still need to make sure it’s something that people will desire.” Regular show homes offer a little creative leeway, but still have to meet the expectations of the general public, and therefore usually remain quite conservative. In designing the Lottery Home however, David tried to incorporate all the things that people would like to have, as well as those things that are necessary. With a million dollar budget it is much easier to flex creative muscles.

David says that he first looks at long term design trends, (sometimes the problem being that it is necessary to separate trends from fads) then continues on down that pathway. “The modernist sentiment seems to be a growing trend,” says David. “This trend is towards clean lines and eliminating as much complication as possible.” He says that currently the art of Feng Shui compliments this modernist trend towards eliminating clutter, yet maintaining the warmth of a home. As well, David has utilized every space to its best potential, and specifically designed the Serenity to suit the lot that it sits on. Overlooking the ravine, the back of the floor plan is skewed so that it faces almost directly due south, incorporating some passive solar principals. Overhangs were designed to protect that area of the home from direct sunlight during the summer, yet offer more warmth during the winter due to the different angle of the sun during colder months. As well, the amazing two-storey gas fireplace facing the south windows includes a stone surface designed to be beautiful while retaining some of the warmth of the daytime sun during winter.

The floor plan is quite an open-concept design. This is complimented by the areas that are open to other floors, creating an even greater impression of space and size. Of course this 3108 sq ft home (not including the 1799 square foot lower development) is an incredibly spacious home to begin with, but with some of the design features such as separate garages forming the courtyard (which by the way includes an outdoor gas fireplace) open spaces, and a huge deck at the rear and side of the home, the Serenity is a spectacular floor plan. As well as aesthetic design, David says that this home includes Jayman’s energy efficient wall systems, and other such Built GreenTM attributes which keeps the Serenity on track to be able to boast an R-2000 energy efficiency rating.

The finished product is scheduled to be open to the public on March 4th of this year, and David says so far he’s quite pleased with the way the Serenity is starting to take shape.