As part of our “Inspiring Successful Stories, we’re thrilled to welcome back Mayan Metzler, the visionary leader in luxury home design and the dynamic force behind the German Kitchen Center. GKC has been a pioneer in blending innovation with design. Today, we’ll be discussing the exciting partnership with TerraLux and rebuilding LA.

How does partnering with TerraLux enhance your vision for integrating technology into the kitchen and home industries?

We see the home as more than just a functional space — it’s a sanctuary where modern families find comfort, connection, and a sense of belonging. In a world where uncertainty looms, and communities feel increasingly fragmented, the home remains a foundation of stability and self-expression.

At GKC, our designs don’t just shape interiors; they invite homeowners to infuse their spaces with personality and creativity. Partnering with TerraLux allows us to take this philosophy further, leveraging AI-driven contextual knowledge bases that genuinely understand each household’s evolving needs.

This is AI with a human touch — an intuitive companion that helps you plan meals, organize family activities, and manage home maintenance effortlessly by having a conversation. But it doesn’t stop at the front door. We strongly advocate for strengthening local connections — bringing neighbors, shopkeepers, and local producers into the fold to create a more integrated and self-sustaining community.

The TerraLux’ Kitchen Buddy’ is more than a home assistant — it’s a bridge between home and community. Coordinating with others in its network transforms everyday living into a seamless and collaborative experience, ensuring that technology enhances individual households and the social fabric around them.

What role does TerraLux’s advanced 3D mapping and visualization technology play in redefining how GKC showcases designs to clients?

TerraLux’s advanced 3D mapping and visualization technology transforms how we showcase and personalize GKC’s designs for clients. Through spatial computing, we can chart our showroom locations and invite homeowners to share how our designs have been adapted to their unique living spaces.

At its core, this is a geospatial content management system with limitless potential. It helps us locate resources and coordinate community-driven installations beyond the home. We offer a dynamic, searchable database that allows clients to explore kitchen design options tailored to their preferred layout and location.

A luxury kitchen is often one of the most significant investments in customizing a living space, and we want our clients to have complete confidence in how their vision will be realized.

TerraLux’s visualization software bridges the gap between concept and reality through immersive virtual tours and AR-powered furniture placement. It lets homeowners see precisely how a design integrates into their space before installing a single piece.

This is a vital step in the creative process—offering more flexibility in customization while ensuring greater precision during installation. As we service a wide array of locations across America, maintaining consistency, quality, and accuracy in our delivery is essential to our brand. TerraLux’s technology helps us achieve just that.

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GKC has always emphasized creating extraordinary customer experiences. How do Terra Lux’s AR and VR capabilities elevate your customers’ showroom and online shopping experiences?

At GKC, extraordinary design should be accessible through whichever channel best suits the customer. Whether browsing from home or stepping into one of our showrooms, we aim to provide a seamless and immersive experience that brings their vision to life.

With TerraLux’s AR and VR capabilities, we are developing a virtual tour interface that truly allows online customers to experience our kitchens and home designs. This gives them a realistic sense of space, materials, and layout, even if they can’t visit a showroom in person. But this isn’t just about passive viewing; we’ve transformed the selection process into an interactive journey where customers can explore, customize, and visualize their ideal space in real-time.

For those visiting our showrooms, we’re rolling out self-guided tours that provide detailed information and personalized assistance. This ensures that every customer receives exceptional service, even during peak hours.

Perhaps the most exciting thing is the AR-powered design placement, which allows customers to experiment with layouts and finishes in their homes before making a purchase. This technology removes the guesswork, giving customers confidence in their choices and making the design process more engaging, precise, and personalized than ever before.

You’ve often said innovation is at the heart of GKC’s mission. How does Terra Lux’s approach to urban planning and sustainability inspire your vision for the future of design?

At GKC, we believe sustainable living starts with thoughtful design—not just within the home but also in how homes connect to their surroundings. Many unsustainable aspects of modern urban life stem from how local communities place and manage resources. That’s why we fully support TerraLux’s bioregional planning strategy, which takes a more integrated and regenerative approach to urban design.

While GKC focuses on creating homes that are personal sanctuaries, TerraLux expands that vision to the flows between homes, fostering stronger local connections, integrating shared resources, and supporting circular economies that reduce waste and inefficiency.

This is a truly visionary approach, whether applied to new developments, retrofitted into existing communities, or implemented in post-disaster rebuilds. Some of these sustainable techniques have been viable alternatives to the extractive industrial methods that have shaped our cities for decades. Others are only becoming possible with advancements in 3D printing, bio-based building materials, and AI-assisted urban planning, offering new pathways to environmental resilience and architectural creativity.

By aligning with the TerraLux bioregional report, we ensure that wildlife, climate conditions, and ecological balance are factored into every design decision. This AI-driven knowledge base and ecosystem planning methodology set TerraLux apart, shaping not just the future of sustainable housing but the very fabric of how communities function and thrive.

With Terra Lux’s geodesic domes and sustainable technologies, could GKC integrate these concepts into its offerings for clients seeking eco-conscious designs?

Absolutely. While geodesic domes have often been associated with alternative communities and off-grid living, we see tremendous potential for applying these structures in modern, mainstream settings—not just as homes but as dynamic, multi-use spaces that enhance personal and community life.

The modular nature of these designs allows for unparalleled customization, enabling clients to shape their spaces in ways that genuinely reflect their lifestyles and aspirations. Whether pairing domes with purpose-built interiors for everyday living or expanding beyond the home to create revenue-generating spaces, these structures offer incredible versatility.

Imagine adding a greenhouse to grow your produce, a workshop for furniture restoration, an art studio to fuel creative expression, or even a recording space to support musicians in your area. This isn’t just spatial design — it’s lifestyle design.

Even more exciting is that eco-materials and 3D printing advances are making these structures stronger, healthier, and more cost-effective than many traditional building methods. Whether designing entire communities with these principles or incorporating smaller dome-inspired elements within an existing home, this approach unlocks a new era of sustainable, adaptable living.

Rebuilding LA is a bold initiative. How does the partnership with Terra Lux align with GKC’s focus on innovation and creating solutions that resonate with modern lifestyles?

Rebuilding LA isn’t just about restoring structures — it’s an opportunity to redefine urban living for the future. The key to sustainable, resilient cities lies at the intersection of multiple disciplines: architecture, urban planning, sociology, futurism, and technological innovation. Advances in CAD, game engines, and digital modeling have opened the door for a new wave of creative minds to contribute fresh insights to this evolving conversation.

At TerraLux, we facilitate these conversations through our platforms and geospatial coordination tools, which act as a nexus where visionary thinkers can share ideas and master builders can demonstrate solutions to reshape urban environments. By fostering a diverse ecosystem of experts, we aim to turn bold concepts into actionable strategies that will shape the cities of tomorrow.

Los Angeles provides a globally iconic stage to showcase American innovation. While eco-tech architecture is advancing worldwide, few cities have the cultural and economic influence of LA. This isn’t just an architectural evolution — it’s an opportunity to position LA at the forefront of sustainable urban development, applying vision and pragmatism to redefine how America builds its future.

Rather than simply restoring what was, we call for a locally driven collaboration that positions LA as a global leader in sustainable development, innovative technology integration, and holistic community empowerment. This is an opportunity to reimagine, not just rebuild, setting a new benchmark for the future of urban living.

While we may not be the ones designing every blueprint or laying every brick, we are committed to supporting and coordinating those who can. This is not a solo endeavor — it’s a collective movement. By fostering collaboration across industries, disciplines, and communities, we ensure that LA — and cities worldwide — embrace innovation, resilience, and shared ingenuity.

That’s why we are partnering with organizations that address immediate recovery efforts — helping displaced residents and rebuilding infrastructure — and those shaping the long-term blueprint for how we live, build, and connect.

A great example is TerraLux’s initiatives, which raise funds for on-the-ground relief while also engaging the global tech and design community in conversations about sustainable urban redevelopment through the design competition https://terra-lux.org/ By bringing together experts in sustainable architecture, permaculture, material fabrication, and community-driven development, we can lay the foundation for a more thoughtful, adaptable, and regenerative approach to city building for decades to come.

As Terra Lux prepares to launch its global design competition, how does GKC envision contributing to this transformative project and fostering collaboration within the design community?

At GKC, we see the TerraLux global design competition as more than an event—it’s a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and the reimagining of sustainable living.

Through our portfolio of kitchen showrooms and ‘New Earth ‘-focused properties, we will host TerraLux hackathons, maker spaces, idea forums, and community events, bringing together inquiring minds and industrious hearts. While digital connectivity has strengths, nothing replaces the depth of inspiration and collaboration that emerges from in-person gatherings.

The TerraLux team’s extensive background in event management and XR technology ensures that these gatherings will be vibrant crossroads where art, tech, and social innovation collide in unexpected and inspiring ways.

This first competition is just the beginning. As we partner with TerraLux on future initiatives in architecture and property development, we aim to highlight visionary projects that seamlessly integrate cutting-edge innovation with time-tested building principles.

Above all, we hope these awards will ignite the passion of a new generation of eco-tech pioneers, designers, and community builders, inspiring them to redefine how we cohabit spaces in harmony with the planet and one another.

What excites you most about this partnership’s potential to influence kitchen design and broader urban development trends?

As AI becomes ubiquitous in digital systems and the Internet of Things (IoT) continuously feeds real-time sensory data into the frameworks that shape production and design, we can no longer think in silos. The days of seeing projects as isolated from their surroundings — or assuming that what we build on one property only impacts that specific plot of land — are behind us.

A smart home’s internal layout and embedded intelligence shape the culture of daily life from one room to the next. Likewise, each property plays a pivotal role in influencing the larger bioregion, contributing to patterns of resource use, energy efficiency, and social connectivity.

With rapid population growth and the far-reaching impact of industrial development, adaptability is no longer optional — it’s essential. The ability to respond, pivot, and integrate real-time data into design decisions will define the next era of urban development.

This is why our partnership with TerraLux is more than just an exciting opportunity — it’s a necessary evolution. It represents the balance between tech’s rapid agility and the built environment’s lasting durability. We are forging a future where cities, homes, and communities don’t just coexist with technology — they thrive because of it.

Finally, how can our readers stay updated on this partnership and future developments at GKC?

For anyone interested in staying connected or learning more, we invite you to visit our website and Facebook to explore our latest collections, view stunning designs, and download our catalogs.germankitchencenter.com.

If you’d like to discuss your kitchen project directly, please email us at [email protected] or call us at (347) 992–0410.

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