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Entries
tagged as 'LivingHomes'
LivingHomes founder and CEO Steve Glenn posted that he will be speaking next week in Seattle. speaker: Steve Glenn
where: Seattle, WA
location: USGBC Offices, 410 Occidental Avenue S
date: September 16, 2009
time: 5:30 - 7:30pm
cost: Free!
notes: Space is limited, RSVP
Ray Kappe's WIRED LivingHome was recently featured on KNBC in LA as part of their "green is universal" series. Here's the video (2:30). LivingHomes founder and CEO Steve Glenn posted that he will be leading a brown bag lunch talk at AIA's office in Portland, OR.
speaker: Steve Glenn
where: Portland, OR
location: AIA Offices, 403 NW 11th Avenue
date: August 28, 2009
time: 12:00 - 1:00pm
cost: Free
notes: "bring your own lunch...come early; seating is limited to the first 50!"
LivingHomes recently posted new fabrication photos of their WIRED LivingHome as well as a video (6:00 min.) of their Builder LivingHome. Steve Glenn, CEO of LivingHomes recently posted a video tour (3:31) of their first completed project, a Ray Kappe LivingHome. Also worth a look: The company has its own channel on YouTube. LivingHomes recently posted renderings of a Ray Kappe modular home. The multifamily house will be built in Los Altos, CA. Size: 3,864 sf with 3 units:
More details from the comments section:
Worth a look: their new Tour/Gallery page with virtual tours, videos and photos. We received an email from LivingHomes with a link to their useful overview page. Here are their summaries with links to our updated model pages:
The New York Times recently discussed the sustainability of modular housing.
Mentioned in the article:
Read the entire article. Author: Nick Chambers
Publication: New York Times
Section: Green Inc. Blog ("Energy, the Environment and the Bottom Line")
Length: 467 words
Date: February 11, 2009
(Hat tip: Charles Bevier of Building Systems on February 11, 2009.) We first looked at the WIRED LivingHome back in July 2007. The home was open to the public in November and shortly thereafter was put on the market. According to Curbed LA:
Likely, the nation's real estate slump has something to do with the price revision. If you're looking for a top-of-the-line prefab though, here's what you get:
Tons of pictures are available at Redfin and on the home's own site. Curbed toured the home in November and provides some additional photos. Our other coverage:
designer: Ray Kappe for LivingHomes
where: Brentwood, CA
price: $3.75m
details: 5 br, 4 bath, 4,057 sf
We briefly covered the KieranTimberlake and LivingHomes partnership when it was announced in March. The official announcement (pdf):
Last year, we discussed KieranTimberlake's earlier "smart cartridges" which were used in the construction of their Loblolly House. A bit more about the advantages of the system:
The LivingHomes by KieranTimberlake line features just two models, the KT1 and the KT2. The KT1 comes in three subtle variations, each able to be expanded differently. For instance, the KT1.1 can grow from the 1 bedroom, 1,020 sf "small" version to the 4 bedroom, 2,160 sf "large" version by adding three additional modules. Difficult to describe with words, the extensions seem both logical and organic; take a look at the KT1.1 brochure (pdf) to see how the changes occur. About the KT2:
This sort of expandability makes perfect sense with prefab structures and KieranTimberlake's "Smart Panels™" seem to be a key component. I for one am interested to see how this partnership grows. Something that should help them along: prices between $155/sf - $215/sf. size: 1,020 - 2,160 sf
status: planned
expected price: $155/sf - $215/sf
br: 1 - 4
style: modern
how: modules
size: 1,540 sf
status: planned
expected price: $135/sf - $185/sf
br: 2
style: modern
how: modules
Via Curbed LA: LivingHomes is partnering with Philadelphia-based architecture firm KieranTimberlake Associates on an “expandable” single-family (pictured above) prefab green homes that can grow from 900 square feet to 2,230 square feet. All parts of the home are made in a factory--and owners can essentially order more parts of their home as their family grows... Additionally, the home will be priced at $215 a square foot, but as the country catches on to the expandable home, costs are expected to drop to $155 a home. The post quotes Steve Glenn of LivingHomes: As you marry, have kids, add in-laws to the household, etc., you’re either moving a lot or constantly renovating, which is time-consuming, expensive, stressful, and very wasteful from a resource perspective.... LivingHomes by KieranTimberlake introduce an important new capability to homes – the ability to efficiently and cost-effectively adapt to people’s changing lifestyle living needs. Treehugger adds: As a cured architect and developer, I could only dream of what the result might be if one mixed the talents and innovations of architects like Kieran Timberlake with a business visionary like Steve Glenn and set them to produce small, efficient projects that don't need a Silicon Valley multimillionaire's income to own. That's worth some research, and we'll share the details soon. Tomorrow at California State University, Long Beach, LivingHomes founder and CEO Steve Glenn is leading a seminar on Building Green: Home Design and Construction. This evening seminar is designed to address the emerging trend of developing healthier and smarter buildings by defining effective ways to utilize materials, energy, and water usage. The sustainable home combines elements from architecture, civil engineering, landscape architecture, environmental and land use planning, and construction management. For more on Steve Glenn's interesting career, read his bio. where: California State University, Long Beach
date: tonight, March 18, 2008
time: 6:30-9pm
cost: $35.00
Systm, a web video series from Revision3, files a long, detailed video report from the WIRED LivingHome: This $4 million home in LA isn't exactly what we think of when wanting to integrate more green, eco-friendly aspects to our lives, but it does offer up some great options. LEED certified and designed by architect Ray Kappe, this home offers a great, simple way of constructing a house without compromising the uniqueness of a custom built home. what: WIRED LivingHome tour
company: LivingHomes
length: 21:26
site: Revision3
release date: December 31, 2007
Check out the multimedia page on the WIRED LivingHome site for additional photos and videos. We first announced the WIRED LivingHome back in July. The modules were installed in September. And now: tours! From the WIRED blog: Want to visit? The Wired LivingHome is open to the public Thursday through Sunday until Nov. 19. For ticket purchasing info and additional tour details, visit the WIRED LivingHome site. what: WIRED LivingHome tours
when: November 1 - 18, 2007
where: Los Angeles
The Dwell on Design conference is this weekend in San Francisco. We won't be there, but here's who will: We heard from Alchemy Architects: "Alchemy Architects will be at Dwell on Design 2007 with a weeHouse to 'tour'. Amazing, but we had a CA client who's weeHouse is just being finished...so it'll stop in San Fran on its way to San Diego. It's a very exciting opportunity for people who are interested in a weeHouse to see a weeHouse. We'll be in the outdoor, prefab section." We know these vendors won't be attending: Some prefab-specific events that will be worth checking out: what: Dwell on Design conference
where: Concourse Exhibition Center, San Francisco, CA
when: September 14-16, 2007
sponsor: Dwell Magazine
registration: $20 for Exhibition Only pass, September 15-16. $895 for full conference and exhibition passport.
features: over 80 exhibitors and vendors
The WIRED LivingHome we've covered before was first announced back in June. Two months later, the house modules are being installed and you can watch via webcam. One gripe: I wish the webcam shots were all from a wider angle to show the big picture. Treehugger's been watching: "...sometimes watching paint dry is more exciting but then some big module flies in front of the camera." Jetson Green also tuned in: "All the main parts are supposed to be complete by September 7, and we'll be able to get a pretty good picture of what the final home will look like." Curbed LA mentioned the home last Tuesday. Inhabitat's Prefab Friday showed off a cool village of micro compact homes: "We often get comments about how difficult it would be to live in some of the Prefab Friday homes that we have featured, and none have received more criticism than the Micro Compact Home (m-ch)...But the proof is in the pudding, and in 2006, the Technical University of Munich in Germany installed a small village of seven of these homes for six students and a professor to live in for a full year." The WIRED LivingHome buzz has made its way to Australian blog GreenFoot: "It's the sort of house that both myself and my husband would love - me the green aspects and him the techy-gadgets. Although we wouldn't need as much room or as many bathrooms.
The Good Human's Prefab Wednesday covered the iT House from Taalman Koch:
The Wired Home is described as a modernist home in an exclusive enclave of Los Angeles that allows luxury and the environment to live together in harmony. Sounds pretty cool huh?" "...it sure is a gorgeous example of what can be done with metal and glass." Home by Sunset is a fan of Michelle Kaufmann's mkLotus: "Now she's designed a prefab that's as green as possible. I think it's terrific. Note the sod roof, the way accordion doors open entire walls to expand the living space, the sunshades, and the photovoltaic panels."The post also confirms that the house will be showcased outside San Francisco City Hall during the West Coast Green building conference. West Coast Green: Residential Building Conference + Expo "is a feast of innovations, ideas and opportunities designed to expand your business, widen your vision, and stimulate your thinking with the latest, best practices and key players in green building." On the prefab front: what: West Coast Green Show
where: Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
when: September 20-22, 2007
registration: $25 ($35 at the door) for Homeowner Day, September 22. $245/day before July 31, $325/day after July 31 for full conference access.
features: mkLotus show home; speakers Allison Arieff (former editor of Dwell magazine), Steve Glenn, Sheri Koones, and Michelle Kaufmann; over 100 green construction product vendors
Equity Green took a look at the X-Line homes from Hive Modular: "...$200 per sq/ft still isn't that bad considering the quality that you are receiving. Hive Modular is one of the best prefab, modular companies out there...especially for the price." The Good Human's Prefab Wednesday explored the designs of Jennifer Siegel's OMD: "...Turns out it is the model of the Show House by Jennifer Siegal's Office of Mobile Design. It was open so we went in and took a look around and it was absolutely beautiful. Jennifer was there as well to answer any questions so we chatted for a few minutes....Although a little small for a family of 4, this example of what can be built off-site just proves that anything is possible." Inhabitat's Prefab Friday added thoughts on the WIRED LivingHome and noted that the official site now features some cool videos: "...Combine all that with some cutting-edge technologies, like automated theatre, temperature, and lighting, and you've got yourself a 4,000 square foot masterpiece of green design." Jetson Green's Flickr Friday showed off the Sustain miniHome: "When you see this, you won't believe how much functionality and comfort can go into a mere 325 sf."He also pointed out this video, from HGTV, about the home: WIRED and LivingHomes have collaborated on the green prefab dream home that "will serve as an example of how people can effectively balance green living with high technology and high design." "Consistent with its focus on sustainable design, LivingHomes and WIRED are deconstructing rather than demolishing the property's existing house, reducing the amount of building materials sent to landfill. Working with The Reuse People, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to keeping usable building materials out of landfills, interior materials will be sent to the Habitat for Humanity Store for re-use, while the framing is being transported to Mexico where it will be used for low-income construction....Deconstruction is currently underway. Installation is slated for August 2007 and only takes one day." Jetson Green is enthusiastic: "At a price of $300 /sf, the WIRED LivingHome is going to be an incredible residence with the best in green + modern + technology. I can't wait to visit." Treehugger calls it "a catalog of the best green eye candy that money can buy." Future House Now adds: "I tend to advocate smaller homes and affordability for regular families, but I'm not about to fire any criticism at the project, because it is meant to be a showcase house, and all showcase houses are top end....I think we'll see a lot of neat stuff come out of this project." name: WIRED LivingHome by Ray Kappe
style: modern
size: 4,057 sf
br: 5
bath: 4.5
price: $4 million ($300/sf)
method: full modules
assembly on-site: 1 day
features: LEED certified, "tricked out" game room, 4 kW solar system
for sale: late 2007/early 2008
more info: press release (PDF)
Jetson Green showed off photos of the Espace mobile, a prefab from Austria. Inhabitat reported on the Lighthouse, the UK's first zero-emission home, which is built from SIPs: "The Lighthouse is a two bedroom, two and a half storey house, with a floor area of about 100m2 [~ 1,076sf]. It does some things just a bit differently from the standard housing model such as locating all the sleeping areas at ground level. This allows the living areas to be located at the top, where they can make use of most of the natural light coming in through the windows and skylights. The curved roof sweeps down providing the living areas with a double height ceiling, making the occupant feel as though they are in a generous open-plan house, and concealing the rather tight and compact geometry of the house." Inhabitat's Prefab Friday reported on the "Top 5 Tiniest Prefabs," a subject we've been talking a lot about recently. Haute*Nature reported on the H-Haus models and their green options. The Good Human has a new series called "Prefab Wednesday" and covered the Ray Kappe LivingHome this week: "Ever since we saw that this house was being built just a short ways from here, we have driven by it a bunch of times to marvel at it. This house is beautiful if nothing else..." (Yes, we cheated. We posted this on Monday but set the date to Saturday consistent with our "this week" series.)
LiveModern is a website for "anyone interested in modern and sustainable design for housing products and services." EcoSteel, aka EcoContempo, contributes content to the site. Especially worth a look is the construction blog by architect Greg La Vardera: "Our blog is for tracking the development of new Modern House designs which are available at our catalog house plan site lamidesign.com/plans. We also cover the prefab house products we work on such as EcoContempo, EcoSteel, custom modular, and IBU container based housing." The blog covers the variety of projects, detailing developments in the ongoing planning and construction of each. A recent post focused on a project in New Mexico, including photos of the site and renderings of the structures: "The project consists of a trio of buildings - a residence, a garage/shop, and an observatory structure. Yes! That's right. More detail about that later. The three structures are located in proximity to each other at one corner of the site." At the Vermont Plat House, interior finishes are going in: "The owner moves in to the house in a matter of days. No doubt there will be more loose ends, but we will see it almost done very soon."An earlier post on the same house had some great exterior shots. Other projects, like the Virginia Plat House, or the Colorado Plat House just have photos of the site. Greg also covers other projects his firm, LaMi Design, is working on. He recently wrote about a competition entry for a multi-unit building composed of a number of single bedroom container homes: "The proposal was for a student housing village composed of a series of these [stacked] IBU structures. As the competition was being held in concert with a conference on green building, the student housing was proposed as a test bed for new sustainable energy and building systems. It was proposed that the units serve the Engineering school allowing for the students to live in and work at innovating and optimizing the new systems being designed at the school." Glossary: IBU (Inter-modal Building Units) - Greg La Vardera's name for container housing Treehugger reported on a BBC story about the micro compact home we've mentioned a couple times before. The BBC report includes a video, and some insight into the home's design: "It's a very tranquil place but at the same time it's a bit of an adventure - there's always something to slide out or under, pull down, tuck away, generally fiddle with, if only out of the need for space. To live here you have to be ordered: to do one thing, you have to finish another first and put it away. And that may be my and other compact-livers' downfall." The Maison Tropicale sale made a couple more headlines. An AP story about the sale showed up on quite a few sites, like ABC Money UK: "Its last owner, Eric Touchaleaume, a French antiques dealer, has said he plans to use the sale proceeds to finance a Prouve museum that will travel inside another Maison Tropicale."NY Arts Magazine explained the original use for the prefab homes: "Prouve's aluminum and steel home was designed for French colonists living in Brazzaville, now the capital of the Republic of the Congo." Future House Now likes A Prefab Project as much as I do, especially the site's detailed budget page: "It's been recently updated, and gives a lot of detail, the kind of detail you don't get from glossy magazine articles." Apartment Therapy eyes V2world's V2flat: "They say it has no geographic limitations. So, we say set it up for semi-outdoor summer living anywhere." I've really been enjoying the posts on A Prefab Project. Homeowners Chris and Sarah track the construction of their prefab home, designed by Resolution: 4 Architecture. One of the downsides of the modular building method is that modules are limited to a size that fits on a flatbed truck. Chris offers some perspective after a visit to the factory: "When we were first looking around at the different prefab options, we had no real perspective on what 14' wide or 16' wide would be like for the whole length of a house - those are both obviously fine dimensions for a single room, but how does it feel to have a whole house fit into that width?...yesterday it was reassuring to actually stand in ours and feel how open and comfortable the space is..." Resolution 4's 16' module width is fairly typical, e.g. Chris answered some user comments and questions by listing some of the finish and fixtures they chose. Their goal: "modest and genuinely cost effective (and of course largely unspectacular)". Another post compares photos of the actual modules in the factory and the renderings that Resolution 4 had provided to the homeowners in the design process. Last Monday, Chris relayed a funny story about his Grandpa's take on modernist design. A blog named DO Research showed up in a few places around the blogosphere. The blog is an "online note-to-self occasionally posted up on the internets for the unbuilt prefab home of Nicole Dotin and Eric Olson." They've been writing for a while; their coverage of the Aperture House, mentioned here last week, got attention. Treehugger enjoyed the photos: "We love showing pictures of modern prefab, hoping that someday it will make good green design accessible and affordable. Nichole Dotin and Eric Olson plan to build a prefab and are clipping their own pictures of favourites. Where others might stick them in a file folder, they store them online as they move around the world from Minneapolis to Reading, UK." I happened upon a blog that "tracks the building of our house, the first NextHouse by Empyrean." The house is almost complete, and this week, the authors discussed the last-minute craziness of the project: "As move-in date draws nearer, all the things that need to be handled seem to be converging and conspiring to eat up all of our free time on weekends, and a bunch of time on weekdays as well." Prefab Update discusses the efficiency of the 7.83 Hz House: "It only requires two truck loads of materials to assemble, is built with sustainable materials, and is extremely energy efficient. The home is reconfigurable and low cost." The Sander Architects Hybrid House showed up on Treehugger. Lloyd Alter wondered about the prefab-ness of the home: "I have never been certain what to make of Whitney Sander's Hybrid House...
(A quick note based on our earlier coverage: every Hybrid House comes with a prefab structural steel frame; some incorporate prefab wall and roof panels.)
Most architects working in prefab are trying to create standard designs, to reduce the cost and risk to the client, and bring the services of talented architects to smaller houses. Sander thinks otherwise and says that 'What we love about the part prefab, all custom™ approach to prefab is that this will be YOUR house, designed exclusively for you...' He then follows an absolutely standard process of client engagement, design, design development and construction documents.... However I think it is a stretch to call it prefab." Treehugger also showed off a new green home built with shipping containers: "The R4House prototype consists of two bioclimatic homes (one of 150 m2 and a mini-flat of 30m2) made from materials that close the loop. The energy consumption of both is zero due to its bioclimatic design, the solar panels and the geothermal energy source. The waste production during construction is also zero. Both homes are modular and built from six recycled shipping containers; low-cost and allowing flexibility." The University of Kansas School of Architecture and Urban Design runs a website/blog tracking their projects. They've been posting weekly on the construction of a new prefab in Kansas City. This week (week 19 of the project), they're nearing completion: "Our goal was to be finished this week and have all of next week to tidy up and prepare for the open house on the 19th. With the exception of minute detail work, we have reached our goal. All of the siding is finished, the south deck is completed, and the ramp is being clad with Cumaru today. We can now finish our site work by bringing in sod in once high-trafficked areas to the south and between the house and garage." Inhabitat's Prefab Friday has another prefab product from LOT-EK: "In terms of architectural features, Lot-ek has created a system that defies the rigidity of an industrial shipping container, providing surprising flexibility in both size and functions. The CHK system comes in two different series- Compact and Loft, and boasts 8 x 8 floor-to-ceiling windows, built-in closets, and wood floors. The best part is its expansion possibilities- regardless of the configuration, it's easy to add on another container to accommodate a home office (or more family members) down the line." For those who can't afford a prefab house in real life, apparently prefab homes are now available on Second Life (a 3-D virtual world). A blog called A PreFab Project is documenting the construction of a prefab home by Resolution: 4 Architecture. The most recent post discussed the "First Glitch" of the project: "John from Res4 called yesterday to say that the factory got the wrong size floor trusses....The factory had apparently framed all the walls and was ready to begin the floor when [they] realized the webbed trusses were too short; so now they're stuck. If they wait for new trusses to arrive, this spot in the assembly line is stuck - no work for the factory. So Jason called me to basically say please allow us to use 2x12s as trusses so we can keep working as scheduled..." One of the many LiveModern blogs featured some good photos of a SIP-based project throughout the framing process. Wired shows off a really cool ultra-compact dwelling, available in Europe. On This is the Last..., blogger Jilly writes about prefab models, including Michelle Kaufmann's Breezehouse: "I've been doing some house hunting and I came across this modern prefabricated home in Sunset Magazine. I think its really cool how they are making this house using recycled materials, you can add solar panels really easily, the living room has a wall that folds so that your room extends to the patio. Its made to have good ventilation and where they could they used recycled materials.
The Nashua Telegraph reran an article from the Sacramento Bee about the changing perception of 'prefab':
Then my husband showed me this prefab (in Wired magazine) called the 'Loblolly House' and I thought it was just gorgeous." "Factory-built housing is touting environmental benefits and a fresh look to win a new generation of buyers as the industry continues to fight an image of cheap design and endure the same housing slowdown pummeling conventional home builders." Jetson Green ran a post about David Hertz's LivingHome making it onto the Met Home Design 100 list: "To me, this is a no-brainer. If I were out of college and established in business, I'd plop down a million in a heartbeat just to get the DH1 built and use it as a vacation home (at a minimum). I'd buy it for the joy of having one of the greenest prefabs in the country and I'd let all my friends stay in it."And Inhabitat pointed out that the Ray Kappe LivingHome appeared on the AIA/COTE list of the top ten green buildings. Many prefab vendors cite the "greenness" of their home models as a selling point. What exactly makes a home "green" and what is LEED certification? According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC): "...the residential sector accounts for 22% of the total energy consumed in the US and 74% of the water. Indoor air pollutants can often be four to five times higher than outdoor levels. Twenty-one percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are contributed by the residential sector....
The USGBC has developed an objective rating system which quantifies these "green" characteristics:
Green home building addresses these issues by promoting the design and construction of homes that have much higher performance levels than conventional homes....Generally, green homes are healthier, more comfortable, more durable, and more energy efficient.... Green homes rely upon established and proven design features and technologies that do not have a significantly large cost. Many green measures will reduce long term costs, particularly those features that involve energy and water efficiency. In many cases, these reductions in operating costs will more than offset the additional up-front costs of a green home." "The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings' performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality." The LEED rating system scores a home on a 109 point scale and assigns a rating of certified (30 points minimum), silver (50 points minimum), gold (70 points minimum) or platinum (90 points minimum). The USGBC explains that "there are 36 topic areas included in the LEED for Homes Rating System. Each topic area has a unique intent or goal." These goals include: As of this post, only LivingHomes' prefab model has achieved LEED certification, with a platinum rating (91 points). LivingHomes' website explains: "As a company, we're committed to building homes that are as healthy as possible, and that minimize their "ecological footprint" with respect to the resources they use for their construction, operation and eventual decommission. Homes built using traditional stick methods can be very unhealthy and extremely resource intensive. In contrast, our homes use sustainable, healthier building materials, as well as energy-efficient environmental systems and products."Further explanation of the LEED certification of LivingHomes' models can be found on the company website. Inhabitat's Prefab Friday shows off photos and shares a couple thoughts on a prefab from Resolution: 4 Architecture "The only thing better than a quaint mountain retreat is a quaint PREFAB mountain retreat....Set on the loveliest of lovely sites in Kerhonkson, New York, the prefab structure integrates what the architects describe as 'lifted bar and 2-story bar' components to create a 2-story indoor/outdoor lofty, loungy space perfectly enhanced by modern furniture and summer dinner party." A UK site called Building Design highlighted a prefab project in the UK by conceptual architect David Adjaye: "The timber-frame building, in De Beauvoir Town, Hackney, was largely constructed in just five days last summer by contractor Eurban, which specialises in an 'engineered timber system' that can be speedily erected. But although the unnamed owner is now living in the 150sq m property, not all the rooms are completed and final adjustments are being made." LOT-EK, mentioned last week, shows up on TreeHugger this week with a potential prefab high-rise in New York: "The Lot-ek scheme for 87 Lafayette Street apparently employs stacking the containers with staircases at the north and south ends and also calls for some containers to protrude randomly on the west facade. The building's slant begins at the third floor on White Street and the sixth floor on the north side. The roof of the slanted tower would have an array of solar panels." Last week it was Japan's Muji; this week Sweden's IKEA showed up in a number of blogs for their prefab housing products (not yet available in the US). Gizmag speaks about a development to be built soon in the UK: "Built in a quality-controlled factory, delivered and assembled in a day. The BoKlok (pronounced Boo Clook) housing concept, a partnership between property company Live Smart @ Home and Swedish furniture giant IKEA is only months away from bringing the average UK family a stylish, efficient and affordable housing option."Another UK site, Renovation Central, had a few tidbits to add: "In Sweden, demand is such that lotteries are held to decide who gets one, and Prole says interest here is already extremely high....They have a flexible open-plan layout, with high ceilings and large windows, giving a light, airy and contemporary feel. They come with a host of additional features as standard, such as extra height rooms to give a feeling of space, wooden flooring throughout and fitted kitchens. And, not surprisingly, they come with free interior design advice from Ikea, as well as an Ikea furniture voucher." If you're interested in a LivingHome, you might be interested in Jetson Green's post on Ray Kappe's "Ten Most Important Principles to Success": "Kappe's first home has been featured all over the place for achieving the highest LEED certification possible, the Platinum rating. I think his work is incredible, so I was studying his stuff when I came across this list...In the interests of learning from those that are remarkable examples of continuing achievement, I thought I would be good to share his list..." I spoke briefly with the OMD/Jennifer Siegal folks. They had some great product literature, offering a little more insight into their product (vs. their lame website). I saw a couple go into the booth ask for "that one" and point to a rendering on the wall. They've got interest, and some quality products to offer. LivingHomes and Marmol Radziner have great (if pricey!) products. Both Steve Glenn (CEO of LivingHomes) and someone from Marmol Radziner (I didn't get there in time to catch his name) were speaking at a prefab forum yesterday. Marmol Radziner hightlights the design aspect of its product, while LivingHomes emphasizes its greenness and LEED certification. The design of each is largely custom and aimed at those where budget is not really a concern, but you do get what you pay for. The Sander Architects booth was crowded, so I didn't get much facetime there. I heard Whitney Sander talk at the prefab forum. He fielded some strange questions, like one from a potential buyer wondering how the Hybrid House's steel framing would hold up in wildfire-prone areas (answer: steel framing is better than wood framing). He also got in some good points about the resale value of a prefab home, especially one with some inherit design value. My favorite discussion was with Marc Asmus of Hive Modular. Before the show I wasn't really won over by their "dual style" approach (modern and traditional versions of each floorplan, like the above). After speaking with Marc, I gained a better appreciation for the approach and their reasoning behind it. He was slightly frustrated that they weren't getting more inquiries into their traditional style options. Modernist prefab was definitely the star of the show, but the ability to offer a product in two different styles should win them more consumers. And one more to come... what: exhibitors at CA Boom
when: last weekend
It was exciting to get over to CA Boom yesterday, meet the vendors and see the Prefab Zone in person. Some initial impressions: What was the deal with the H-Haus booth? For all of Sunday, they had some heated window product set up, joined by a representative from the window company, but no h-haus folks (and the window rep was explaining that there was no h-haus literature and she knew nothing about the product!). By about 2 pm (the show didn't end till 5), the entire booth was packed up (see the above picture!) and it was basically deserted. I always have a little trouble remembering which is which between LivingHomes and CleverHomes and they were passing out info in identical folders, which didn't help. CleverHomes' booth never seemed to die down. Folks were pouring in to talk to the reps and learn about the their product (which seems to have the most models currently completed or under construction for any of the vendors at CA Boom.) Free candy is always a positive, and V2world was offering up building block-shaped candy. Good stuff. However, their product line sounds like it's in flux, according to ceo Tim Russell. At this point, the v2shell line, and the v2flat sound like they been pushed aside for a larger/more custom line of products. Oh, and their steel framing system, which I earlier reported as having the ability to be disassembled and moved...apparently one would need to cut all welded joints to be able to do so. More soon... what: exhibitors at CA Boom
when: last weekend
There was surprisingly little coverage of CA Boom prefab around the web this weekend. Perhaps all of the bloggers are waiting until they get into the work week to file their thoughts. A couple of posts did show, mostly speaking about green issues: A report over at Curbed LA about the tour of the Ray Kappe LivingHome model, something I missed. A few notes and pics of the Prefab Zone over at Curbed LA. Green LA girl points out that LivingHomes and OMD emphasized their green credentials. Inhabit loves the new location and enjoyed the evening reception. See their pics too. If you like the idea of prefab, but can't forfeit the luxuries of a large private home, a LivingHome is probably for you. Along with Marmol Radziner, LivingHomes represents the top-of-the-line prefab present at CA Boom 4. Most standard models cost more than $500k, and some approach $1m. Rather than using in-house designers, LivingHomes offers models from Ray Kappe and David Hertz, two well-known California architects. Kappe has two offerings in the LivingHomes product line: the five bedroom, 3,100sf RK1, and the four bedroom, 2,500 sf RK2. Both feature extensive outdoor decks of over 1,000sf, multiple levels and open floorplans. Hertz has one LivingHome design, a 2,650 sf, four bedroom, also with ample outdoor living spaces and a modern floorplan. LivingHomes is building a community of their homes in Joshua Tree, CA, with plans for additional communities in the future. Or you can work with LivingHomes and one of their architects to build the prefab home of your dreams. All of the LivingHomes designs are green-conscious; the standard models have gained LEED certification. Construction timelines run between 46 and 54 weeks from project conception to move-in. It's a bit of a long wait, but when your house does finally arrive on site, it comes together in a hurry (video: model home installed in 8 hours)! style: modern
price: $500,000+
size: 2,500sf - 3,100sf for the standard models
br: 4 - 5 bedrooms
how: complete modules delivered to site
timeline: 46 - 54 weeks from project conception to move-in
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