
For the past four decades, NAHB’s Best in American Living Awards (BALA) have celebrated the value and importance of good home and community design.
Over the next several months, BALA will celebrate its significant 40-year milestone by showcasing memorable trends and award-winning projects, as well as celebrating its esteemed BALA Hall of Fame inductees who helped set the stage for today’s design creativity and innovation.
Although trends and best practices in home design have evolved through the years, NAHB’s commitment to driving innovation and improving the places where we live, work and play remains steadfast. NAHB is proud to once again recognize and honor the architects, builders and designers who have become part of the BALA community and made their mark in defining excellence in residential design.
Join us on our journey into the past, and celebrate the evolution of design!

40th Anniversary
1993 Home of the Year: The Sandcastle
This custom home facing the Pacific Ocean took advantage of this primary amenity by focusing...
2007 BALA Design Trends
Every year, the BALA judges reflect on the applications and designs that they have poured...
7 Design Lessons from the 1997 BALA Awards
Excerpted from 7 Lessons from BALA, originally published in the January 1998 edition of Professional...
BALA Celebrates Inductees Taylor Morrison, The Green Company & Jillian Pritchard Cooke
Taylor Morrison, Class of 2008 More than 200 years of combined experience and tradition are...
1995 Home of the Year: 4,070-Square-Foot Custom Build
Judges found a beautiful marriage between the outside and the inside materials. By using the...
2020 Home of the Year: The Crusader
With a mandate from the soon-to-be-retired builder to create a modernist piece of architecture as...
2019 WOW Award: Ahana
View more images in the gallery. Photography by Nic Lehoux Photography Architect/Designer | Solomon Cordwell BuenzBuilder...
1993 Grand Award Single-Family Attached: Corte Melina
Buyers at Corte Melina, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA need not wonder if they’ve secured a...