In May, the Belgard team travelled to San Francisco to attend PCBC 2019 – The Art, Science + Business of Housing. This influential homebuilding conference is one of the largest in the nation and offers a great deal of insight into industry trends and innovations affecting residential construction ranging from single family homes to planned community development. Attendance at this year’s event was overwhelmingly positive, despite sluggish growth in new residential construction. Here are some of the top design trends noted from the show.
Growing Interest in Porcelain Pavers
Half of the Belgard booth was paved with Mirage® Noon Porcelain Pavers, which drew in a lot of builders and designers. The realistic reclaimed wood look and texture mirror interior design trends, offering opportunities to create designs with indoor/outdoor flow. Those unfamiliar with the fact that porcelain tile is now available in a thicker exterior-grade paver were happy to learn about the strength, durability and stain-resistance qualities. Builders were also intrigued by the other available Porcelain Paver styles including Belgard’s new Verona™ collection, which offers four different maintenance-free interpretations of natural stone. Those in multi-family and community construction were very interested in the ability to install these paver products using a pedestal system, making the pavers ideal for community poolscapes and rooftop terraces where uneven surfaces or access to utilities can be a concern.
Continued growth in popularity of “Contemporary” styles
Builders and designers are seeking out new materials that meet the growing demand for a sleek, contemporary look with clean lines. Belgard introduced two new well-received contemporary hardscape products to be launched regionally: Melville™ Striated Paver and Melville™ Wall . These will be added to the existing Melville™ collection that currently includes Melville™ Slab and Melville™ Plank. The contemporary product line offers clean lines in contemporary shapes and focuses on a smooth face to provide a sleek look. The new Striated Paver features lengthwise striations on the paver face and works well as an accent or border element to a contemporary design and can also be used for ADA compliance.
Various Westile® rooftop lines garnered interest, especially the IPE Wood Rooftop Tiles and coordinating IPE Wood Cubes – which can be used to create seating, planters and other plaza and terrace accents. Adjustable Pedestal Systems also garnered a lot of interest as a design solution for rooftops, plazas and other applications where uneven surfaces or access to utilities are a concern.
