The Summerlin master-planned community has long been heralded for its standard-setting design requirements that give it a distinctive look and feel while helping to maintain aesthetics and home values.
According to Danielle Bisterfeldt, senior vice president of marketing and consumer experience for Summerlin, the community’s design has been thoughtfully and carefully planned to ensure Summerlin continues to live and look as vibrant today and in the future as it did when development first began 35 years ago.
“Beyond Summerlin’s community-wide distinctive and elevated look, each village or district has its own unique placemaking flavor, created by landscaping, wall design and color specific to that area. Those unique characteristics help to establish a strong sense of place for each village or district, while staying true to Summerlin’s overall aesthetic. When you drive around Summerlin, the flavor of each village or district is evident, while the elevated feel of Summerlin is still palpable and cohesive.”
Other unique Summerlin design features include the requirement of homebuilders to incorporate at least 15 percent of outdoor living space into the design of every home. This includes courtyards, miradors, loggias and covered patios and balconies, and it’s why these features are so abundant in the community’s home designs. In fact, Summerlin homebuilders typically include two to four of these outdoor living spaces in every floor plan.
Homes in Summerlin are required to meet visual standards on all four sides, referred to as 360-degree design, and the use of walls is partially restricted to ensure openness while maintaining views and aesthetics.
Homebuilders in Summerlin are encouraged to include open space and pocket parks in neighborhoods, providing places to play and gathering spots accessible to every resident. Today, there are more than 300 parks throughout the community, many of which are located in individual neighborhoods. Village parks and open space corridors are thoughtfully designed to reflect the unique environment in which they are located. That includes framing views of ridgelines along the community’s western boundary, incorporating revegetated planting into parks and paseos and embracing challenging topography along the community’s trail system.
Summerlin streets are curved to create more interesting streetscapes, avoiding a grid-like appearance. Homes on a given street are intentionally designed and built with varied elevations, colors and setbacks to further ensure visual interest and appeal on a neighborhood scale. Summerlin sidewalks are frequently landscaped on both sides to create both visual appeal and enhance safety for pedestrians by further separating sidewalks from streets. And the community’s signature roundabouts keep traffic moving, reduce pollution by eliminating idling at intersections and add visual interest to streetscapes.
Even lighting is an important factor in Summerlin’s design. The community’s eco-friendly light pollution regulations create a more vibrant nighttime sky via signature L-shaped, square, bronze-colored lampposts that point downward.
“Summerlin’s distinctive lampposts, along with strict regulations that prohibit signage, are obvious clues you are in Summerlin,” Bisterfeldt said.
According to Bisterfeldt, while the community’s exacting design standards help to create Summerlin’s overall look and feel, the community’s broad range of homes by the nation’s top builders make the community even more desirable as a place to call home.
Now, in its 35th year of development, Summerlin offers more amenities than any other Southern Nevada community. They include 300-plus parks of all sizes; 200-plus miles of interconnected trails; resident-exclusive community centers; 10 golf courses; 26 public, private and charter schools; a public library and performing arts center; Summerlin Hospital Medical Center; houses of worship representing a dozen different faiths; office parks and neighborhood shopping centers.
Downtown Summerlin offers fashion, dining, entertainment, Red Rock Resort and Class A office buildings. City National Arena is home of the Vegas Golden Knights’ practice facility. The Las Vegas Ballpark is a world-class Triple-A baseball stadium and home of the Las Vegas Aviators.
Summerlin offers over 75 floor plans in approximately 15 neighborhoods throughout eight distinct villages and districts. Homes, built by many of the nation’s top homebuilders, are available in a variety of styles — from single-family homes to townhomes, priced from the high $400,000s to more than $1 million.
For information on all actively selling neighborhoods, visit Summerlin.com. Before you visit, call the builders to check hours of operation. Phone numbers for each neighborhood are on Summerlin.com.
