Inside the New American Home

The New American Home: What Does the Future of Homebuilding Actually Look Like?

Earlier this year, while attending Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, our team from Alair Homes Kirkland had the opportunity to tour The New American Home 2026. It wasn’t just another beautiful home. It was a full-scale expression of what’s possible when design, construction, and technology are aligned from the very beginning.

Located in Winter Park, Florida, this year’s showcase home pushes beyond what most people think of as luxury. Yes, the finishes are exceptional. But what stood out most was how intentional everything felt. Every system, every material, and every design decision worked together to support how the home lives and functions day to day.

Experiencing a home like this in person offers something you can’t get from photos alone. It gives a clear perspective on where the industry is heading, what clients are starting to expect, and how thoughtful planning at the front end changes everything.

A Unique Opportunity. And a Real Challenge

When the Alair team in Florida was invited to take on The New American Home project for the builder show, it was the kind of opportunity you don’t turn down. But it came with two very real challenges right from the start: a compressed timeframe and products that most people in the trades had simply never worked with before.

What made it work from day one was the collaboration. From the very first conversations with the architect and interior designers, there was an energy about this project. There was shared confidence that what they were building together was going to be something special.

And the home itself? It starts with something most people would never expect in Florida: a 5,000 square foot basement. Sitting right on the lake, the home features a car elevator that brings vehicles directly down into that lower level. The first and second floors are built from structural steel, which meant multiple trades often had to work side by side at the same time. It was a real logistical challenge that required precise coordination at every stage.

From the very beginning, this project asked more of everyone involved. And that’s exactly what made it worth doing.

The Vision: Industrial Edge Meets Lakeside Warmth

A home this ambitious needed a design team that could hold two ideas at once: boldness and warmth. That’s exactly what Blair Kersenbrock and Shannon Lazic from Steele Street Studios brought to the table.

Their approach was deliberate: take the cool, industrial character that structural steel naturally gives a home, and pair it with materials and details that make it feel inviting. Not cold. Not sterile. A space that draws you in rather than holding you at arm’s length. The result is an interior that feels as good as it looks.

Then there’s the architecture. Michael Wenrich of Michael Wenrich Architects came into this project with a client who had a clear vision built around three pillars. First, a home that feels genuinely private. Second, a home that reveals itself slowly, where your first impression from the outside doesn’t fully prepare you for how expansive it actually is once you through the front gate. And third, a home that at every turn brings you back to the lake.

That last one is where the massive floor-to-ceiling glass windows come in. They don’t just frame a view. They make the lake feel like part of the home itself.

For Michael, the most rewarding part of the whole project wasn’t the design on paper, it was watching the client and the trade partners walk through the finished home for the very first time. That moment of seeing someone experience something you helped create? That’s what it’s all about.

Built to Last: Steel, Concrete and Engineering at Another Level

You don’t typically build a residential home completely out of steel. But that’s exactly what this project called for.

It started with heavy gauge structural steel designed to support the light metal and roof and wall system along with every other system in the home. The result is a structure that is genuinely bulletproof and hurricane proof. A tree falling on this house? Not a concern. This home is built to be there for generations.

A vital partner in making that happen was Orlando Steel Factory, who played a key role in the foundation and framing from the ground up. And when we say ground up, we mean it literally.

The basement of this home is truly one of a kind. They excavated 17 feet underground to create a dry basement sitting 14 feet below ground. The walls are cast in place concrete, meaning liquid concrete was poured directly into temporary formwork right on the job site, creating one continuous monolithic wall structure once it cured. Ten inches thick and completely waterproof.

Then there’s the car elevator. Because of the slope of the site, a traditional driveway down into the basement simply wasn’t possible without cars scraping on the way in. So Alair built a car elevator and a turntable instead. Pull in, ride it down, and you arrive into a basement that holds up to 16 cars alongside a home gym, a movie theater and a game room. All of it underground, all of it finished to the same standard as every other inch of this home.

Living Better, Not Just Bigger

One of the things that sets this home apart from other luxury builds isn’t just the scale or the materials. It’s the intention behind it. This home was designed around wellness, and you feel that the moment you move through the space.

The home gym in the basement isn’t an afterthought tucked into a corner. It’s a fully realized wellness space complete with a sauna and a cold plunge. That kind of setup is rare in a residential home. When it’s done well it can feel like it was bolted on. Here it feels like it was always meant to be there. Polished, purposeful and completely integrated into how the home lives.

Kohler was an incredible partner throughout this project, donating a range of innovative products including that stunning cold plunge. Their contribution elevated spaces throughout the home and the cold plunge is one of those details that stops people in their tracks.

This is what living better actually looks like. Not just more square footage, but a home that genuinely supports your health, your rest and your day to day life at the highest level.