Eco-friendly prefab homes have enjoyed a grassy place in the sun (as in green) for the past decade. Here’s what’s on the horizon. Our vote: pretty fabulous. 

The prefab process (building modulated prefabricated homes offsite in an industrial facility), is simple and deceptively cheap. Deceptively so because the term is so often associated with McMansions, suburban Taj Mahals built on the cheap with massive mortgages attached. Nowadays, prefab is equated with the new eco chic, a modernist aesthetic and sustainable design.

The prefabs of the future are all about smart design, responsible sourcing, affordability and, above all else, style. We venture to say that these pretty fabulous prefabs actually fit the bill. Here’s why:

A prefab is built with recycled and renewable materials. Bamboo is the most common, while a sturdy base of steel, wood and cement can withstand even the most arctic of conditions. If it’s a really fab prefab, it mixes natural light with passive heating and cooling. This prefab from Seattle-based Stillwater Dwellings also features  low-VOC paints, micro-strip birch hardwoods, Marmoleum floors, wool carpeting, recycled-content quartz slab countertops, ultra-high efficiency heating and hot water systems, and high-efficiency windows with argon and low-E film.

If it’s pretty fabulous, it uses interior spaces wisely and is designed with longevity in mind. Danish studio Onen and Swedish company Add-A-Room co-designed this rustic cottage/additional living space called the One+ house. When the future calls for more space, simply add another module.

A pretty prefab must feature large windows and multi-use functional spaces. The Week’nder by Lazor Office was installed via a ferry trip across Lake Superior. They had us at the front window.

A fabulous prefab is non-invasive, meaning it doesn’t infringe on the natural world. On the contrary, it blends into it like the FlatPak house.

Really fabulous are prefabs built with economic stability in mind. Mass customization means they are an ideal solution for low-income communities and in places that are prone to natural disaster. The FLOAT House from the Make It Right Foundation is scalable, adaptable and mass-produced. It’s an affordable, sustainable prefab that generates its own power, collects its own water and limits resource consumption.

Making Pitt fairly fab, too.

As architects continue to heed the call of clean design and aesthetic simplicity, the prefab will continue have a home with eco-conscious homeowners. We like it.

Image: jenosale

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What do we do with ugly, unused land in the hearts of our cities? You could camp there, of course – but the real challenge is to affordably fit new homes into the most awkward of spaces, and do it sustainably. In a world of custom-kit prefab housing, this is no pipe dream. Take a look at these 10 stunning examples of homes fitted beautifully into the tiniest spaces. Is one of these your dream home?

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The word sounds so, shall we say, cheap and chintzy? It doesn’t roll off your tongue and linger on your lips like Chateau Marmont or Fontainbleau. In fact, when I first heard the word prefab back in 2000, trailer park and double-wide sprang to mind.

But then I laid my eyes on the Eames House (image above), and it was love at first sight.

Although the Eames House isn’t pure prefab (many of its parts are), it was born of the Case Study Program (1945-1962) that challenged architects of the day to design efficient, low-cost housing. In fact, the program announcement reads like a modern prefab proposal might:

…each house must be capable of duplication and in no sense be an individual ‘performance’… It is important that the best material available be used in the best possible way in order to arrive at a “˜good’ solution of each problem, which in the overall program will be general enough to be of practical assistance to the average American in search of a home in which he can afford to live.

Prefab is far from a 20th century concept though, in fact prefabricated construction dates back to the 17th century. (To learn more about the history of prefabricated home building, read ‘Prefab’ by Allison Arieff & Bryan Burkhart. Great book!). And it’s true that these buildings haven’t always been becoming, not by a long shot. Trailer park, track homes, cookie cutter, the list goes on.

But I’m here to steer you straight. And since I’ve recently written about the death of the ugly, ostentatious and utterly offensive McMansion, I decided to focus on this pleasing alternative. Something smaller, sensible, adaptable yet fully capable of being stylish. (Just like the itHouse that Leigha wrote about.)

No, prefab is not for everyone. But no matter your personal design preference, prefab has so many merits and environmental and social checks in the positive column, it’s past the time to start paying attention.

So even if you think modern and minimal, grim, boring and cold, the following options should sway your style-buds toward prefab. I promise.

LivingHomes – RK1

The first LivingHomes prefab, RK1 (image above), was designed by architect Ray Kappe and was the first home in the U.S. to achieve the LEED^® Platinum rating in August 2006. Since then, they’ve added additional models and of course custom options galore. I had the opportunity to tour the RK1 back in 2006 and would have moved in, right then and there.

(If you live in the Newport Beach area, go see the newest LivingHome, the KTLH 1.5 designed by KieranTimberlake, on October 9 and 10. Find more information here.)

Office of Mobile Design – Santa Monica Prefab1

Jennifer Siegal is the design principal of Office of Mobile Design (OMD). Her Santa Monica Prefab1 (image above) is a 2,330 square foot, two-story, “16 ft. wide, four-module house…carefully fitted into its 25 ft. by 100 ft. narrow lot.” But it’s anything but boring or cramped. Check out her other homes, as well as her latest venture, the Desert Hot Springs Development Take Homeâ„¢.

Rocio Romero – LV Home

Available in a number of sizes and styles, the LV Series launched with the LV Home (image above), the simplest and smallest version at 1,150 sq ft and starting at $36,870. All of the modules are the same width (25′-1″) but vary in length so they fit together in any number of configurations. Rocio Romero makes it easy for the inexperienced, by offering a Getting Started tool that maps out the modular building process step by step.

Marmol Radziner Prefab – The Desert House

The Desert House (image above) was created for principal Leo Marmol, and his wife Alisa Becket. Completed in Spring 2005, it’s the prototype for Marmol Radziner Prefab. I wish I could post all the pictures here, but you’ll just have to peruse on your own. Then tell me, what’s not to love?

Marmol Radziner Prefab also offers a series of pre-configured products – Skyline, Rincon and Locomo (image above) – that range in price from $200-400 per square foot. The custom option, for those with specific architectural plans and a bigger budget, starts at $400 per sq ft and increases from there.

mkDesigns – Glidehouseâ„¢

The first of Michelle Kaufmann’s prefab designs was born in 2002 out of her and her husband’s frustration at the lack of sustainable housing options in the San Francisco Bay area. Glidehouseâ„¢ (image above) is named for the sliding glass and wooden doors throughout that create an open, indoor-outdoor living environment. The house’s list of sustainable features is impressive but not surprising considering all mkDesign homes are built based on five eco principles.

Alchemy Architects – weeHouse

The weeHouse (image above) is yet another factory-built dwelling that arrives on location ready to live in. It’s available in four sizes (Studio, Pair, Tall, Four Square) and a plethora of available materials, options, accessories and finishes. Not my favorite of the group, but definitely worth its weight in “better, cheaper, faster, easier, smarter, greener, cooler, customizable.”

I hope you’re as inspired as I am by these architects who push the envelope and strive for evolution and advancements in the art of sustainable living.

But tell me this, how does one choose which prefab to purchase when the options are so endless?

(Images and resources: prefabcosm, NYTimes, Dwell on Design, Arts & Architecture, fabprefab.)

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Need to test drive a prefab unit before trading in your energy hogging habitat for life in the green lane? Now is your chance. Rent a little cutie this summer and see how it goes. Here are a few goodies on the vacay market:

12 Container Houses:

June through August, the highly touted shipping material miracle in Maine is hipper than hip with undisturbed nature views, for $6,000-$10,000 per week. Yes, you too can experience the pure eco joy forged by architect Adam Kalkin of the prefab-forward firm, Architecture and Hygiene. Of course, it demands the kind of disposable cash scored in exploitative industries like banking, insurance, corporate public relations, war making and profiting. Not really the prefab message, but oh well. Nice digs if you can afford them. And you can get them, if you try.

Onward to good deals  for recession victims on uncomfortably tight budgets (i.e. cook your own meals on all trips, cart your own vat of discount vodka and olives, steal extra toilet paper rolls when you check out). Here is a sampling of some of the most fab prefabs you can rent at a variety of rates.

Roll out the green carpet and feast your eyes on a great find:

Rolling Hut Prefab Vacation Cabins can be rented for a painless $100 per night. At a former RV camp in Mozana, Washington, the low rollers offer a provocative perch for taking in the surrounding mountains – a low impact approach to “civilized camping” by Olson Sunberg Kundig Allen Architects. Sign me up after that June Bat Mitzvah in Seattle!

This is my kind of camping:

The upscale cabin experience in the Cascade mountains of Washington can be had in this Mount Baker eco “Method Cabin” and is available for $250 a night or $1500 a week.

Ooh, la lot!

Check out the sweet surroundings visible through that cute port hole. Cube-shaped teeny vacation rentals by Carre d’etoiles can be rented in France and eventually other European destinations, providing the opportunity for hotel operators to grow their operations affordable by branching out into prefab, allowing guests a unique, eco accommodation for 90 euros a night. Great stargazing provides the ecotainment at night.

All the Wright Stuff:

Experience a Frank vision of stylish function for an overnight or two. The Duncan House in Acme, Pa., was designed by frank Lloyd Wright and opened for rental last summer after being relocated to its new digs 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh from Illinois. Prefabricated by Marshall Erdman, a Wisconsin builder, it was bought by an electrical engineer named David Duncan after reading about the project in the mid-fifties.  According to the New York Times, the reassembly required putting back together thousands of parts. Today it sits on a 125-acre tract of woodland owned by young builder, Tom Papinchak and goes for $385 a night with a two night minimum. Make reservations and find seasonal specials here.

Blast from the past

Rent a vintage Airstream at a campground like the Camp Lotus resort in Coloma, California. It’s the real deal, the precursor to the prefab and some of the Silver Trailers can be set up for you, from $175 to $250 a night.

Images: brewbooks, Vrbo, Alternative Consumer, Prefab, New York Times, Silvertrailers

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A well contained prefab home that would elevate my life; a robin’s egg blue clutch; a pair of ethical Frye boots to kick up my heels around town. Yes, I’m jonesing for these pretty and practical pleasures as I venture outdoors after a long winter’s rest from buying.

I’m in Lust with these 10 finds:

Prefab Envy/Adam Kalkin’s Maine Container House

This inventive and affordable prefab space ($125 a square foot) is a house to flip over, and I would happily trade my 1920 mold-charmed and energy sucking craftsman cottage for Kalkin’s reclaimed shipping container dwelling in Brooklyn, Maine. He assembled it in 2003 with a dozen orange shipping containers stacked in a T-shape and replaced steel panels with picture windows overlooking the peninsula and Blue Hill Bay.

CB2 Sawyer Green Adirondack

They’ll set me back $250 each, but would nicely complement my prefab house. Also, I desperately need new outdoor furniture because the chewed wicker settee and rocker are no longer charming, but sad. The new green outdoor chairs from CB2 have that rugged and iconic upstate New York allure reworked in certified eucalyptus and finished in a cool gray wash.

Cat on a Hot Tan Pouf

It’s probably the best $50 I will ever spend as Audrey desperately seeks warmth in our tundra home. They say cats never exit the Thermo Kitty Heated Crinkle Sack, except for meal and litter box duty. The energy efficient four watt heater is a year-round cat magnet for hanging. My 16-year-old Audrey deserves one and I’m a bad mommy if I don’t get it soon. Her kidney disease is slowing her down.

Crib for my California King

I’ve been on the hunt for an upholstered bed that could be placed against my bay window for a better feng shui flow in my room. The tufted Rowan bed from Cisco Brothers boasts eco construction (elusive as heck in a fabric bed ) with legs of reclaimed wood, hemp webbing, jute and burlap frame finishing, and sustainable chemical-free fabrics. It even comes in my size. I love the soothing gray shade.

Hang Ten, Seat Six

Is it my awe for Shaun White, my childhood in Malibu or simply the sexy walnut veneer that has me hankering for this Stax Chair from Skate Study House? It’s molded from three skate decks and bonded plywood and boasts a hot mid-century low-rise aesthetic, great for seating extra guests.

A lot of Crock

It ain’t a fancy feast, but easy slow meals are all the rage and I need a crock to be in. I like the designer Series Smart Pot because it defies the old jalopy style of the kitchen staple and is programmable, automatically shifting to warm when the cooking is done. It is made of stainless steel and costs $50. In answer to your next question, YES! I’m registered at Crock-Pot.com.

Wind Up Revolution Media player

If I’m gonna break down and join my other family members by splurging on a player, I’m wildly attracted to the idea of one minute of winding for 40 minutes of play. I waste enough batteries on my digital camera. Newer Revolution models by Trevor Baylis are available for £129.95 at It Must be Green,  and can be shipped from the UK.

Leeanne’s Additions

What do Project Runway winners do with the money? Some sneak into oblivion while visionary Leeanne Marshall went green with a new Spring/Summer 2010 eco collection “Basic Math” with halter and strapless origami-inspired garments of organic cotton, silk and hemp. Ecouterre tells us four of five designs will be produced as ready-to-wear in April, while the other pretty pieces seen here can be custom ordered from Marshall’s Etsy store, Leanimal, from $140 to $525.

Ethical Fryes

The classic harness clunkers we wore with thrift drop dresses in the Eighties are back – way back! I’m lusting after a new pair of harness ankle boots, but a new pair from Zappos is $210.  I’ll go vintage at eBay if I can find a size 9.

Kisslock Clutch

In pink or blue, I need this clutch for Spring and love the Asian-inspired bird on a limb design printed from the art of Karin Grow on cotton and silk with reclaimed bottles for batting. $80 at Etsy’s Brina Edelman Designs.

Image: Architecture and Hygiene, Etsy

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I’m not referring to my favorite pasta dish or sports car, but rather the fabulous modern kitchen designs of the Italian manufacturer, Valcucine. Founded in 1980, they’ve perfected the art of the sleek, clean and simple space where we cook. But what I find even more commendable is their effort to be green.

For almost three decades, Valcucine has been diligent in its technological and engineering advances – all geared toward lessening their environmental impact. They embody the ultimate in cutting edge design meshed brilliantly with an eco-conscience. To wit, Valcucine supports reforestation projects and founded an organization that promotes environmental education and preservation.

In 1988 Valcucine introduced a one-piece “dematerialized” front panel resulting in cabinets made with 65-85% less material than other brands. More recently they created an all glass base unit that is non-toxic, resistant to heat, water and steam and 100% recyclable. Read more about Valcucine’s environmental philosophy here. And learn more about their products and all the possibilities here, here and here.

In the current climate of all things prefab, modular and adaptable the Valcucine kitchen fits right in. In fact, the Artematica Vitrum fit right into one of the full-scale prefab prototypes (the Cellophane House) built for the 2008 MOMA exhibition – Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling (read my post about the show here). Both the house and its kitchen cabinetry use aluminum structural frames for support. Artematica Vitrum cabinetry is also made with tempered glass, a lightweight and completely recyclable and sustainable material.

If you’re not into modern, a Valcucine kitchen may not be right for you. But please don’t deny them a little well-deserved praise for their multitude of eco-accomplishments. Molto Bene!

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Look into the future of custom housing: steel frames and insulated panels delivered to your lot for quick, on-site assembly. That’s what’s being done at Eco Steel, a firm of architectural visionaries that connects with other forward-thinking industry partners to deliver these dwellings to homeowners and businesses. Instead of fully finished prefab, the building systems gives you an excellent shell to be finished by your own green contractor.

EcoSalon has been singing the praises of modular prefab dwellings, not just because they often contain recycled content but because they are energy efficient, space saving and low maintenance. These ones designed by Eco Steel tout thermal efficiency and LEED rating benefits.

A fine example of their custom projects is the Goshawk Ranch in Park City, Utah, where Eco Steel is based. This fabulous structure features solar powered radiant heat, low voltage lighting, electric generating windmills, robust grey water irrigation and an outdoor amphitheater.

The company also used eco-friendly steel to construct these Scandinavian-style three-story residential lofts in the coastal Delaware town of Rohoboth Beach. They are engineered for extreme wind loads, and come in 4-bedroom options for multi-family use. Weathering all kinds of climate (and climate change) is a goal of the architects. They also cut down on the time and cost of building a conventional custom house.

“Our building system is a hybrid that offers faster construction and higher quality than traditional means yet is less expensive and more flexible than full prefab techniques,” says Eco Steel.

Your job is to find the land and the right contractor to complete the task.

The post Need an Eco House? We Deliver the Nuts and Bolts appeared first on EcoSalon.

Over the last 12 months, we’ve seen some of the best, worst and most unusual that green architecture has to offer, from shipping container hotels to conference yurts. We’ve seen a host of exciting new ideas brought to the table – and here are a few that particularly won us over.

Bricks and mortar…on water?

It’s been hard to escape the Lilypad this year – thanks to a stunning design, jaw-dropping promotional images and an idea that seems way ahead of its time. A method of living on the two-thirds of our planet’s surface hitherto denied us – and doing so sustainably? Much more appetizing than growing gills, I’m sure we’re agreed.

Except – a nagging doubt. Look at the above picture. The word that springs to my mind isn’t “society” or “community” – it’s “elite”. Are sea-housing projects going to become something that local governments could afford to invest heavily in…or just a series of privately-financed, ultra-exclusive floating Dubais? If sea levels rise catastrophically, would the less wealthy be left stranded?

The Rise of the Truly Fab Prefab

Terraced houses. Entire streets that look exactly the same. Apartment blocks that look like a bureaucrat’s dream Lego set. And all because houses are built before they’re sold.

Let’s imagine something. Let’s say you buy the land first, then go shopping for a house to put on it. It’s a practice only just creeping into the mainstream housing market – and we couldn’t love it more (see here and here). Prefabs all look different, they’re custom built, and they’re testbeds for the cutting edge in new eco-friendly materials. I dream that one day, our children will buy their houses out of a catalogue.

Branching Out and Hanging Around

Tree hugger -“An environmentalist or one who believes trees and all living things should not be cut down or harmed.” In decades past, popularly equated with “nut”. But now, designers are waking up to the potential of living wood – whether it’s affixing human homes within the branches of trees, having trees growing (or “pleaching“) through houses or, most recently, the perfect tree hugger abode. We’re not going to see city-sized Lothloriens or streets looking like Patrick Dougherty sculptures anytime soon…but we’re thinking about it.

Scraping the Sky v2.0

It’s only recently in human history that we’ve starting building upwards on a skyscraping scale. Now these vast structures are becoming self-contained worlds, gathering energy, self-regulating and even growing their own food. So why do they have to be so boxy? They don’t. Take the Superstar (above): a model for a new kind of Chinatown.

Or the amazing pulled-spiderweb shape of the Crystal City, Moscow.

Or this Moon Shaped Skyscraper proposed for Baku, Azerbaijan.

On one level, genius at play – on another, mad as a hatstand. But the wider implication is that skyscraper designers are leaving behind the Giant’s Causeway urban template and borrowing a wider range of shapes from the natural world. More, please.

Buildings That Earn Their Keep

Everything we do around the home expends energy (unless you’re as lazy as I am). We ingest food, it turns into chemical energy, we expend it in mechanical effort. And then, that energy is wasted, usually as heat (friction). Could we divert some of it into powering our homes?

The signs are good. Take the door of the Natuurcafé La Port in Driebergen in the Netherlands – similar to a project undertaken by Fluxxlab. Take the power-generating floors of the Tokyo railway station. It’s not otherworldly technology, although it’ll be years before we see domestic housing using such features as standard. We can’t wait.

Something Sustainable Afoot

Forget polyvinyl flooring – the kind you see poking out of landfills with depressing regularity. Forget synthetic carpets that only really tell you what they’re made of when you singe them, filling the air with a smell you’ll take to your grave. No – we’d rather see acres of cork and bamboo flooring lining the next generation of homes. Green, gorgeous, great potential.

Turfing your Turf

Covering the outside and inside of your house with grass might sound like the work of a deranged golfing fanatic – but it makes sense. Now we’re seeing the concept at work in the street, such as the above fashion store in Seoul, Korea.

Electricity as a Last Resort

As wonderful as the rise of alternate energy is, there’s something we like even more – a home that doesn’t need it. Take the role of sunpipes in casting natural light deep into our homes without the slightest sizzle of power – and how about us rethinking our need to set our homes ablaze in the evenings? Take passive housing. Will the dream house of tomorrow have a dream electricity bill?

Buildings That Make You Sweat

Here in the U.K., obesity has just been labeled “one of the greatest public health threats“. Part of the root cause is lack of exercise – and part of that is surely the rise in modern labor-saving devices. So we applaud designers like Bruce Fowle who want to turn buildings and cities into gentle gyms.

These are our favorites. What are yours? If you’ve found something relevant (or blogged about it), share the link in the comments.

Image credits: Vincent Callebaut Architectures, miniHome, Apartment Therapy, Inhabitat, MAD Ltd, Foster and Partners, Civil Engineering Portal, Globus, Ann Demeulemeester, seeks2dream and Dustin Diaz.

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