With Design in Mind

A Frisco subdivision under construction off Independence Parkway, between West Main Street and Rolater Road, features homes that are unlike any others in North Texas – or the entire nation, for that matter.The upscale community, called Tapestry, is being developed by Total Environment, an India-based company that is also behind Windmills, a restaurant/brewery located at Grandscape in The Colony. Its luxury homes boast unique design and operational features including geothermal heating and cooling systems, solar panels, outdoor grassy areas accessible from any room in the house (including upstairs) and even gardens on the roof, among others.

As uncommon as these features may be in most newly constructed homes in this area, they are the norm in India where Total Environment Founder Kamal Sagar established the company more than two decades ago and has been building similarly outfitted residences ever since. (The company also develops hotels and apartment complexes there.) Early in his career as an architect, he says his firm “took on the idea of embracing nature and creating high-quality homes that were warm and individually customized around each family’s needs. …
br I realized the only way I could do this was to take up the responsibility for not just designing but also developing and constructing these communities.”

Tapestry is the company’s first foray into homebuilding in the United States. Its three styles of two-story homes (the model home onsite is referred to as an “experience home”) that are being constructed in Frisco range from 3,300 to 5,300 square feet. Prices start at $1.3 million and the homes take an estimated 18 months to complete. “We have brought our design philosophy and core values (to the project) that have helped build this brand over 25 years,” Sagar says. “Two of our core values are authenticity and consciousness. We don’t chase trends. Everything we do is with a single-minded focus on our vision.”
Finding Frisco Other cities, including San Francisco, were considered for the development. However, Total Environment ended up securing a 56-acre Frisco property that boasts three ponds, a trio of creeks and hundreds of trees. Ground was broken on the project in 2020. “The natural beauty of the landscape was something in which we were in awe of from day one,” Sagar says. “To be able to preserve this and build around it is an exciting prospect for us.” It also complements well the company’s “nature-driven” values, according to Kaci Wiens, development coordinator at Tapestry. “The whole idea is to bring the outdoors inside,” she explains. Sagar adds, “We have always believed that you cannot call a home a home if it doesn’t have a garden.” That is why every home constructed by Total Environment is designed around one or more garden spaces complete with irrigation systems.

On Tapestry’s V40 model, such a space exists in an unexpected place: outside the second-floor primary bedroom, which looks out onto a serene terrace filled by a lush lawn that grows atop what is the backyard patio cover. Meanwhile, the home’s “green roof” – which Wiens says helps reduce outside noise and regulate indoor temperatures – is filled with plants that will be maintained by Tapestry’s homeowner’s association. The roof also features leak-detection and drainage systems. When built out, Tapestry’s two phases are expected to have 121 homes. Residents will also have access to a park (currently under development) and a 7,500-square-foot amenity center that is planned to include a gym, pool and a café as well as a concierge service similar to those often found in luxury apartment buildings.