Kubity Spotlights Eco-Chic Home Designs

How This Native-Californian Owned Architecture Firm is Helping Wildfire Survivors Rebuild Using New Technologies

Tropical Architecture Group, Inc. (TAG) is a luxury architectural design firm based in Kauai, Hawaii with a new satellite office in Southern California. The company was founded 15 years ago by native Californian husband-and-wife design duo, Michael and Lani McLychok, with an expertise in designing Tropical, Contemporary, Asian Pacific, and Balinese-inspired luxury homes.

TAG’s mission is to create timeless luxury designs using natural and sustainable materials for relaxed, resort-style living. Their projects have been featured in national and international magazines, including The Robb Report Vacation Homes.

Sustainable resort-style living by TAG

TAG recently launched a new division of the company called Eco-Chic Home Designs; offering ready-to-go luxury home designs, with materials, specs, and finishes all specified. All plans are also structurally engineered, which saves 6-8 months of design time and enables completed plans to be ready for construction bids.

Rebuilding After the California Wildfires

After the devastating Woolsey, Hill, and Campfire wildfires, Eco-Chic was a perfect fit to help people rebuild their lives. The disaster burned over 11,000 homes within 153k acres in Northern California , and another 175 homes on 96K acres in Thousand Oaks and the Malibu area. With so many affected by the wildfires, Californians are scrambling to find help.

And this influx of need for AEC professionals has created a whole new problem—long waiting lists to meet with architects and builders. So TAG and Eco-Chic have teamed up with California permit expediting companies so that clients have support for all of their individual needs.


“We’re using Kubity as one of the first steps in purchasing a design. They select their design of choice, then download the Kubity Go app to be able to place the design directly onto their property in AR.

-Lani McLychok, Principal, TAG Inc.

Once a client chooses their favorite design from the Eco-Chic Collection, an Eco-Chic representative will help determine what fits within their property constraints. Using the Kubity app, the representative will place the design on the client’s own property in augmented reality to determine which position is best for views, sun, wind, and access to the property. It’s exciting for clients to walk around and view their design in 3D with both exterior and interior views

The Mana: An Eco-Chic ready-to go design

Once the design placement is determined, a site map is created and stamped by an Eco-Chic engineer and architect, and the plans are ready to go to county for permits.

TAG and Eco-Chic are Offering 10% Discounts to Victims of California Wildfires

TAG has been using the Kubity suite of tools since the early days of the app. With true-to-scale immersive augmented reality, their team is able to understand design consequences in real-time and give clients an immediate understanding of their space. They’re also using the VR feature for walkthroughs with and without VR glasses. Using just a smartphone and the app, they’re showing clients what they’re buying before ever breaking ground.

Kubity, Returning What’s Visually Missing

From an architect’s perspective, Kubity is more than just another professional tool. It’s changing the way the design is conceptualized and moves things along faster for clients than going the traditional route. It’s hard to imagine something that’s not there, and Kubity helps bring design ideas into design realities offering clients an immersive 3D digital experience.

“Especially in California where the emotional trauma of losing one’s home is devastating, it’s motivating for clients to be able to see a beautiful home on their property at a time when they can’t imagine anything there except what was lost,” says Lani McLychok.

Eco-Chic ready-to-go designs can give client’s a jump start in getting builders’ bids by saving 6-8 months in design time, not to mention the waiting period just to get started with an architect.”It’s been very well received, and we’ve had record sales within just the first few months.”

“TAG and Eco-Chic are using Kubity as an indispensable tool that is inspiring clients and helping them imagine all that is possible, instead of what can’t be seen or what was lost.”