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The world of prefab and modular homes. |
July 2007
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| studentorgs.utexas.edu/prefablab/ |
The Prefabrication Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin has been investigating prefab methods since 2002:
"The Prefabrication Laboratory is a research group...focused on integration of factory production techniques and architecture. Offsite fabrication offers many benefits for building: higher quality, economies of scale, and more efficient use of resources. Prefabrication takes many forms and is evolving rapidly: modularization, pre-assembly, 'off-the-shelf' components....Our research investigates these changing processes looking for points of entry for architects....We look at fabrication in the larger context, how it has been used in the past, successfully or not, and how it affects local environments, cultures, economies."
The lab is similar to Studio 804 at the University of Kansas School of Architecture.
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| aprefabproject.blogspot.com |
I know I have blogged a lot about A Prefab Project, but homeowner Chris has a lot of great advice. He does a great job of documenting and reflecting on the home-building experience. His most recent post chronicles the difficulties of the house delivery and set. I would not want to have been there for the house's trip up the steep driveway to the site:
"So while I watched the house bend (and wondered if it might actually just collapse), I really wanted to scream STOP and make everybody back up and start over, doing all the things we'd talked about doing. But that's a hard thing to know when to do, and an even harder thing to actually do."
Chris offers some advice for any homeowner setting out on a large scale project:
"The one lesson I keep coming back to in my mind from these episodes is the importance of the people you have working for you."
