The 100-acre development is an attempt to rethink home, community and wellness, and will include 300 private residences in 8 different neighborhoods. Desert sensitive landscaping, pathways and recreation trails connect all the homes together as well as to an entertainment complex, with restaurants and stores, a boutique hotel, a gym + spa, along with state-of-the-art wellness facilities. Residents of the new eco-community will have a chance to participate in a range of social and recreational activities and much more.
Ten emerging and well-known architecture firms were asked to contribute to the master plan and design one section each of the community. This impressive list includes LOT-EK, SADAR + VUGA, surfacedesign inc, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, J. MAYER H. Architects, Joel Sanders Architect, Rudin Donner Design, Inc., L2 Tsionov-Vitkon, Hollwich Kushner and Arakawa + Gins. And just as we expected when we first heard about the project on Architizer, sustainability is a central pillar of the designs. In fact, the developers are aiming for LEED Certification for the entire community.
Naturally, LOT-EK will be utilizing old shipping containers and prefabricated design for their neighborhood, while J Mayer H will be building rammed earth homes. Once inside the community, there will be no need for a car as everything will be walkable, and all buildings will make use of natural ventilation, thermal massing, rainwater collection and more. A solar chimney will be combined with an outdoor climbing wall on the wellness center. The developers are currently exploring the feasibility of a centralized geothermal heat exchange system which would feed into the entire community.
Construction on BOOM is expected to start in 2012 and will cost an expected $250 million. As you can tell from the renderings, the designs and visions of each architect are quite varied, so it should make for a very interesting and stimulating community.
Via Architizer
