The Magazine

Editor’s Letter | Aspen | August 2026

Greetings. Once again, the Rocky Mountains are on fire. In fact, most of North America is on fire this Summer. Global sales of fire-resistant and non-combustible building cladding materials in 2026 are up approximately 6.4 percent to 7.8 percent over last year, driven by the broader Grand View Research Cladding Market Report showing overall market growth from USD 270.5 billion in 2025 to USD 289.4 billion in 2026. As it happens, in this issue we take a look at the Phoenix House, a multi-generational home in Vancouver that was rebuilt after the heartbreaking loss of the home to fire. As a species, we’ve moved well beyond being anxious about the impacts of a changing climate. Now we’ve entered experiential mode.

Elsewhere in this issue, our talented team of writers look across a wide range of performance home products and services, including Steve Panosian’s profile of Wythe Windows and their performance glazing materials, Stephanie Casimiro’s look at indigenous kitchen and bath fabricator Native Trails’ resilient product line, Draper at Home’s new heliotropic shades that sets a new bar for performance window treatments, Sean Vincent O’Keefe’s profile of Neolith, a global leader in sintered stone surfaces, and David Cohen’s historical take on Telescope Casual Furniture and their journey to sustainable manufacturing practices.

George McClure talks with Ryan Gustafson about Screen Innovations’ filmscreen innovations, Maria Deschamps interviews Song Zhang of PURI Lighting Design, Bill Hensley explores 250 West, an incredible experience center on Long Island, and Sean Vincent O’Keefe brings us an engaging conversation with Rhye Altman, Senior Project Designer for Visbeen Architects.

We are very proud to have our own Eric Schwartz introduce the winners of the Technology Designer Performance Home Awards for 2026. There are some really cool products and designs that continue to push the boundaries of smart home technologies and performance home design. Congratulations are in order for our Best Product, Best Design, and Honoree winners.

Additionally, Sharon Sherman sits down with Christopher Grubb to talk about how modern technology impacts the design, the flow, and the function of a space. And Veronica Esbona wraps up the issue in a pretty bow with a look at outdoor entertainment and the necessity of planning in the very earliest discovery meetings. Finally, Kat Wheeler takes us to the Hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni in Malta, a subterranean sanctuary carved by hand into rock around 3500 BC. You’ll love her essay about how sound is emotion, and why acoustics is the final luxury amenity and what it means for how we design indoor and outdoor spaces.

Let’s go see where technology meets design.

Editor’s Letter | Las Vegas | February 2026

Greetings. As deep winter settled in across the country, we found ourselves at Las Vegas Market in late January collaborating with ANDMORE on a series of conversations about the intersection where technology meets design. We owe a tip-o’-the-hat to noted interior designer industry personalities Christopher Grubb, Nikki Watson and Dawn Brinson for joining our conversations, along with our sponsors Sonance, Crestron, Draper at Home, Coastal Source and DMF Lighting. Talking about outcomes and the why of mutual collaborations, and how technology impacts modern spaces and modern design (as opposed to how technology works) was our focus. Up next is High Point Market in April, where we’ll recreate our conversations and continue to engage interior designers on their home turf.

For our Winter issue of the magazine, we’ve got some great stories to tell as usual. Eric Schwartz kicks things off with a look at 2026 Trends we’re expecting to see in the Performance Home arena. Sean Vincent O’Keefe profiles architect Adam Wagoner from High, Low, Buffalo, as well as Ted Bradley Studio who custom designs exquisite ceramic lighting fixtures, and Stephanie Casimiro weighs in with the story of HomePlunge that’s part inspiration, part persistence. Sharon Sherman has a lovely conversation with Garrison Hullinger from Studio Garrison, and we catch up with the incredible Sarah Dresher, Founder and Principal of Luxury Integrated Technologies, a leading manufacturers representative firm in the Southeast. She’s always a LIT girl!

George McClure explores the world of Stealth Acoustics, innovators in the art of concealment, and Laurie Laizure weighs in on the proper etiquette system integrators need to consider when partnering with other trades. David Cohen is back with a look at EDGE34, a visionary manufacturer of concrete furniture, and Maria Deschamps sits down with Emily Miller to talk about the storied history of Acoustic Innovations. Veronica Esbona wraps up the book with a salient discussion about conversations and shared experiences.

We’re excited to welcome back Bill Hensley to the posse, reporting from Japan with an interview with Dan Nicklin of Smart Home Japan, one of only a few luxury residential integrations firms in the entire country. And finally, as many of our readers know, there are few things in the design world as deceptively simple and surprisingly influential as a color. Please also welcome Kat Wheeler, who joins our team with a fantastic look at Pantone and their 2026 Color of the Year, Cloud Dancer.

Let’s go see where technology meets design.

Editor’s Letter | Denver | September 2025

Greetings. After many years of covering performance homes, we’re finally seeing a concerted effort across all trades and manufacturers in offering the core elements that go into resilient, electrified, healthy, decarbonized and detoxified built environments. Many of the concepts we’ve reported on, including smart paint, fire resistant building cladding, passive design, all-electric mechanicals, engineered timber products, induction cooktops, whole-house water filtration and hospital-grade clean air design are now commonplace and making their way rapidly into production homes.

The core narrative is being driven at the consumer level, as Americans are becoming hip to how unhealthy and non-resilient the status quo-built environment is in residential construction. The advances and investment from the largest manufacturers in the building trades are not a result of altruism, they are a result of the public demanding better performance and cleaner, healthier living conditions.

We, of course, will continue covering performance homes and the bleeding edge strategies and methodologies that the thought leaders and innovators are dreaming up. A new generation of architects, designers and builders are expanding the use of sustainable building materials, eager to reduce waste in the building process, and adopt new resilient and energy efficient products and materials into their designs.

As such, it’s more important than ever for the technology designer to stay abreast of these developments in order to play a key role in unifying and coordinating the use of advanced smart home technologies that support and enhance design. The need to improve our aesthetics and understand how our products impact design is critical if we want more acceptance within the design community.

We kick things off in our Summer issue with Sean Vincent O’Keefe’s talk with architect Ryan Thewes, and Sean also takes a look at the world of Leviton. George McClure profiles both LG Electronics and Sonos, while Steve Panosian covers the new offerings from Bosch and Moen. We also are featuring in-depth looks at Lutron’s Ketra intelligent lighting products as well as renowned retail/e-tail/integration firms Gramophone and World Wide Stereo.

Steph Casimiro has a great article on Soakes Pools, while Sharon Sherman talks with Jane Dagmi from High Point x Design. Maria Deschamps talks with the innovative and creative folks at Tempaper & Co., while Interior Design Community’s Laurie Laizure is back with a compelling article on how AI is changing the game in regard to generative engine optimization. And joining us as a new contributor is David Cohen who weighs in on sustainable design and the work being done at Phillips Collection.

Let’s go see where technology meets design.