Prefab, Proven
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Articles
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101 Prefab
Everything you wanted to know about prefab but were afraid to ask! We've tapped the brain behind popular web resource FabPreFab to explain the birds and bees of manufactured housing.
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Prefab Parlance
From Kynar and Galvalume to SIPs, the terminology associated with prefab construction can be daunting. We asked a handful of architects and designers to help us build a prefab glossary of the top…
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Marmol Radziner Prefab
Amid the industrial expanse of Vernon, California, Marmol Radziner Prefab’s factory-built homes are pieced together in a process akin to the assembly lines made famous by Henry Ford.
Product
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Prefab Prototypes: Site-Specific Design for Offsite Construction
A detailed guide to six different prefab systems, weighing the pros and cons of each and explaining how they work.
Dwell Collection
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Mapping Prefab
In just under ten years, dozens of prefab projects from all over the world have graced the pages of Dwell. We sifted through our archives to find some of our best-loved pieces, revisiting stories…
Videos
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Design Leader: Michelle Kaufmann
As part of our Design Leaders video series, prefab specialist Michelle Kaufmann shares her philosophy on sustainable modular construction.
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Contained
In a quest to create some private space in a soaring loft, two San Franciscans turned to shipping containers as a design solution. View the final transformation, which includes a teak-and-copper…
Tips
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Think Smaller. Think Efficient.
Don’t target a prefab project and forget to adapt your wish list to fit the capabilities of the task at hand. A prefabricated house or commercial project has certain limitations, one of which…
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Prefab is Not Necessarily Less Expensive
It certainly can be, but as with any project it depends on the architect, the fabricator, and how everything is organized in anticipation of installation at your site. Your architect needs to be…
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The More Complete, the More Prefab
There are quite a few companies out there that are marketing “prefab” but not all of them are designing and producing entirely finished products. Many projects we have seen appear to be…
Events
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Prefab Education Workshop
Join Ryan E. Smith, professor of architectural technology and author of Prefab Architecture, in the Prefab Education workshop on January 13th, 2012. Learn about the history of industrialized…
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HandMade: The Western North Carolina Craft, Architecture & Design Expo
A two-day event inviting the public to join artists, architects, builders and designers to share to and learn about successful collaborations between craft artists, home owners, and industry…
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Related Products
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Prefab Prototypes: Site-Specific Design for Offsite Construction
A detailed guide to six different prefab…
Tell me about the drapes and track system. It looks like a great solution for big windows. Thanks for what ever info you may provide.
If you're thinking of running another contest in NC, I know my husband and I would be game! We're a couple of designers (with 3 cats) striving to build our empire in our small house. I LOVE the style of this prefab as we've been designing a kitchen and bedroom around a studio but have yet to come up with the funds. Since you've already got the sources in place, I think Raleigh would be a great place to resume the work! @ecstewart
Awesome idea! Thanks for putting this to print, and continuing to move the construction/design industry along!
How does a company like EcoSteel fit into the prefab world? They don't build modules but pre-build the structure's all steel components and SIP-like metal wall, floor and roof panels... As with pre-fab, the foundation work needs to be done ahead of time. The electrical, plumbing and hvac is done after the structure is delivered and assembled. As far as I know, the design is pure custom but the construction is factory done.
I am enamored with the pre-fab home that looks fabulous. Are there more pictures? More of the drape/track system? I would like to get the word out to more firms on this idea!
Interesting in learning more about this house and the cost per sq. ft. as I am thinking about a builder in the bay area and like this plan better. Please send more info. to us. Patricia and Michael Hill San Jose, CA
i am interested in putting a prefab addition on my house. could you please tell me how to go about getting in touch with some of the architects/manufacturers. thanx
I have purchased a lot and would like to build my "modern" dream home in Martinsburg, WV.I have been reading at different prefab websites and the cost of a 2500 - 3000 sf home is 6-700,000...nightmare !!! Can you guide me on how I can make my dream home affordable. Just read your article about the DWELL prefab home contest... and you gave me hope !!!! Please point me to the right direction. Cherry Lobaton 11/22/2009
Just read your great article. I have reading Dwell Mag. now for about a year.Love the articles . My husband and I just bought earlier this year about 2acres on the road behind us in North Pole, Ak. We have thought of a prefab as a possibility. Needless to say we have a shorten building season here and a greater need for a well insulated home. We have a small pond on the property. It is actually part of what was called Clear Stram which I am sure is probably a run off of the Chena River.We are thinking of putting in the road, well,septic and hopefully starting on preparing a house site.Our present house is a modular but would need extensive remodeling if we were to stay in it. We would appreciate any info. you might have on companies doing prefabs here in Alaska.We did not want a cookie cutter house. We could have easily gotten one of those and it is sometimes difficult to find someone willing to help you work out what you want.We do not want a huge house. It does need to be one level.We look forward to hearing from someone and thank you for reading this.Norma
I love the idea. I am ready to get away from the "cookie cutter" lifestyle. I would like someone to help me in my venture to build a prefab modern home. Please help... I need a starting point.
Just a note to anyone who is considering building a "Dwell Type" modern home such as the one featured in this article. An ideal building envelope system to consider: SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels) Many of the modular and prefab companies do use this system in connection with their home offerings but SIPs are available all over the US, and internationally as well, and are specified by many architects as a "green building" option. (Super energy efficient, a sustainable material, less job site waste, etc) While many contractors are already experienced with SIPs there is a very short "learning curve" for those who are not.
So, Resolution 4 had won Dwell Home Design Invitational to design a modern prefab home for $200,000? Is this $200K the design fee or construction to finish fee? If the former, what's so special about it? If the latter, then the question is whether one: they cheated that it never really able to build a modern prefab that cheap, or two: the cost to build the same house jumped 100% the very next year and that's before their profit, thus making the Dwell's $200K challenge which I assume supposed to scream affordable, pointless. The big question to Resolution 4 is. Same house built in 2010, how much? As I stated with other prefab company (MDK, Marmol Radziner, et): The sustainability of a prefab or any green product is unattainable if it's unaffordable.
pretty cool. is there water damage to the bedroom window, picture 7?
I love this house. After making all the miscues and mistakes and miscommunication while designing and building this house, now you are ready to build my house like this for truly $200,000. Can you do it in Wake County? I'm ready.
Dear Dwell, It seems this is a topic that is still ever present among your readers. As an on and off subscriber over the years, I have managed to see the changes and development of pre-fab among architects and various manufacturers since this issue. With the increased costs of new and existing homes in the NYC Metropolitan area and then the subsequent drop of home values over the last two years, we are in a situation in which the conventual housing market offers very few options in buying an economical home without moving to another time zone. Pre-fab seems to be a very real solution. The problem is we don't have access to reputable companies and architects who are involved with modern designed products. My question picks up where Noah James left off: who is out there today that offers a modern pre-fab product comparable in cost today to what the objective cost was for Res 4? Is the goal of an affordable modern pre-fab realistic? If, yes, then word needs to be spread and people would respond. Thank you
We are the current owners of the above dwell house. One thing for future pre-fab modular house owner to consider: energy efficiency. With 103 windows and not well-insulated roof and walls (easier to pre-fab and transfer?) this house demands high electricity bills for heating and cooling. Consider geothermal and solar power when you build the house. But it will bring the cost up considerably. By the way, many of the materials and products in the house were sponsored by manufacturers. For instance, the deck material, windows, doors, floor materials, appliances, etc. So the actual cost of building the house is significantly higher than $200K. I don't know the answer Enrico di Giovanni asked: which portion of the $200K is design fee?
Hi! I'm from the resort island of Cebu,Philippines. My husband & I adore your magazine =)! We first came across Dwell when my sister gave me a copy while the hubby & I were in the midst of building our home (from the ground up,Phew!). Now, we hunt for back issues of Dwell in magazine/bookshops & grab any copy we can. There's just no other means for us to get one... Thanks & we hope you'll feature more innovative/green family homes. I just hope we can still keep finding your mags in the bookshops =)
I am very interested in purchasing a wooded vacant lot either in Orange County, NC (Chapel Hill area) or an 8 acre piece in an adjacent county. This is precisely the style of home I'd be looking to build, but I wonder how much the learning curve has been straightened in 8 years when it comes to energy conservation, more precise financials, and a NC builder's ability to blend prefab with on-site constructed elements that may not come "bundled" in the package.
This looks like the home that Resolution advertises for about $600,000 or more!
It is telling that your greatest difficulties were experienced setting the home while the factory of course whipped it out the modules lickedy split - no problem! therein lies the greatest difficulty of modular construction: prejudging your total costs without the ability to revise or gradually anticipate some of the logistical problems you will encounter onsite. Once those modules are built they better fit one way or another or you and or the factory are out a lot of money as a contractor. This is why it is so crucial to meticulously plan and employ highly experienced estimators and modular/pre-fab set crews.
I feel we can reach this goal of affordability, sustainability, and efficiency in prefab housing. As a wall panel / truss designer, the software is out there to do all of this. We just need cooperation between architects(big part), contractors, and the manufacturing companies building the prefab systems to all be on the same page to create a "dwelling" that is aesthetically pleasing, flowing and affordable to the everyday middle class worker. In my everyday design work, I have yet to see an architects design be "efficient" or "cost effective". They take the customers ideas, draw some lines, make some pretty elevation views and leave it up to the rest of us to make it work. It needs to start with them. Architects and designers in the construction industry need to work side by side to create the most efficient, affordable, and comfortable homes on the market. This can be done. We just need to start thinking differently about how the system, as a whole, works and above all communicates...
Prefab has the future, in Germany one on six of the new building houses are prefab houses
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