Marmol Radziner Prefab
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Article
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Marmol Radziner's Rincon 5 Live in LA
If you read Dwell's February 2009 Process section, you saw the inner workings of the Marmol Radziner prefab factory, where they construct their loved and lauded modern homes. Those of you in…
Products
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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.
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Magic Box
Each built with custom dimensions / 11' W x 11' D x 11' H model
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K3
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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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…
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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…
Event
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Modern Kitchens and Baths with Marmol Radziner
We are pleased to welcome architect Leo Marmol, FAIA, Principal of Los Angeles-based Marmol Radziner + Associates, best known for its meticulous restoration of mid-century modern homes, including…
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Prefab Prototypes: Site-Specific Design for Offsite Construction
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The guys are definitely talented. It's too bad the guys at Marmol Radziner seem to have a reknown reputation for being total jerks and full of themselves. It's one thing to be able to put out a nice modern product and another to ompliment it with a modern attitude & approach to life by treating others with respect.
People say I'm a jerk too. I don't care though. It's all about the building.
I agress, Bob. There is no excuse to be disrespectful, especially to clients. It's uncalled for in any situation. I don't understand why modern design needs to come with such a bad attitude.... we need to change that in the industry.
The prefab is notably a good form in and of itself, but how can you adapt these ideas and form to existing mobile homes and other prefabs in that genre?
There was an old cartoon (early nineties), in which one of the characters builds his dream home—it's a three–story prefab made of trailers... The last photo in the slideshow reminded me of it.
Some woods are harder to work with than others. People are the same. I beleive it is an interesting and important housing project ! Let's concentrate on the good things in life. Good day :)
Hey guys. Yeah! These guys have lots of talent, and I love their work! It looks amazing. Even though the house in the first picture isn't TOTALLY original (It kind of reminds me of one of the Jeriko houses, Luke or something like that.) I am amazed at the advancement of housing technology. I am just wondering: I am a Freshman in High School, so I do not have as much depth in the subject of architecture as I would like to, but I find it awesome that they used recycled steel, but is that as eco friendly as it sounds? (that sounds weird, but basically can you re-recycle the steel if they decide to tear the house down?) Bob C: Really? I didn't know that, thanks for the heads up, I was about to call these guys and ask for an internship.... lol any places that would accept a teenager?!?
As a former employee of Marmol Radziner, I have never known Ron or Leo to be jerks or full of themselves. They are very humble people who work quite hard to achieve the amazing results they are known for. If Bob C personally had a bad experience, that is unfortunate. However, unfounded slanderous comments about their reputation is also quite disrespectful and unprofessional.
I'm continually disappointed that the homes featured in Dwell are either prohibitively expensive for "normal" people or ridiculously small for the amount of money put into them. Maybe I'm just spoiled living in West Virginia, but $550,000-$750,000 for the Marmol Skyline 1.2 is ridiculous - it's only 1755 square feet! The 1920's brick home that we currently live in that is in the city and a nice neighborhood is 1950 square feet and we only paid $79,000 for it. Dwell was supposed to be about restoring modernism to the average person - modernism's original intent as a design philosophy - yet the magazine seems to be going the way of every other modern design magazine: expensive. My parents stick built a lovely 3800 square foot home here in West Virginia with 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, family room, living room, dining room, office, library, kitchen, etc. for around 200,000 and that INCLUDED the 4 acres they purchased in a very nice neighborhood to built it on. I mean, it is in every way typical baby-boomer excessive and not what we want, but gives you an idea of what you can get for your money around here by building from scratch. Why can't we get these modern homes down into the same range?! My partner and I just bought 13 acres of wooded property that we intend to build on and would love to be able to go green and modernist, but not at these prices. I mean, the land cost less than $1000.00 per acre for Pete's sake. Finally - I think it is irresponsible of modernism to continue to advocate the excessive spending on homes that got our country into this fiscal mess we're in. Modernism should be stepping up to the plate to offer affordable, quality, functional homes that are beautiful and within comfortable reach of the vast majority of middle class Americans.
You tell 'em Ryan McKenzie! My husband and I live one town over from Boston, Massachusetts and I find the homes in Dwell a refreshing change from the endless energy hogging colonials and cape style homes around here. But, I have to agree with Ryan, my husband and I see the Dwell featured homes as super expensive and owned by independently wealthy white yuppie types flaunting their good fortune in a country choked with unemployment. It's unfortunate that apparently Dwell has also determined that there is no money to be made from featuring African-American homes nor advertising addressed to them. Dwell needs to work harder to promote modernism as affordable and find some affordable modern homes that don't look like overglorified trailers. In the meantime, I'll get busy on creating Black Dwell magazine.
I've been following Marmol Radziner for a while now. I'm trying to understand the philosophy behind prefab, which I had hope was affordable environmentally friendly urban housing. But at the prices M/R is charging I don't see much of a future for it even in Los Angeles where we are accustomed to paying ridiculous prices. But maybe they're just going for the wealthy early adopters and have plans for affordable mass products down the line-- too bad. I would like one of these now.
I completely concur with Ryan McKenzie and Mrs Earle. After grad school, I moved to Houston, TX, and started shopping around for a modern/sustainable home or prefabs. Boy! Those homes are far too expensive. Does this mean that only the rich should be concerned about sustainable modern living? Dwell has also helped to propagate this crazy idea by not adequately featuring designs and vendors that are generally affordable and yet still stylish. I decided that working with my architect friends to come up with a design, and working directly with contractors might be a more affordable option. In my search, I found out that there are actually talented people that can design and customize your ideas for a fraction of the cost that these Dwell-exhibited designer labels charge.
Regarding the comments from Mr & Mrs Earle - I do agree that thr Marmol Radziner Homes are a tad expensive but what does it matter if the homes shown in Dwell are white homes, African American, Asian or whatever - a beautiful home is a beautiful home.- and it's appeal is universal, transcending ethnicity. I'm an African and over here we find the American ability to read racial undertones into everything , even something as innocent as a site like Dwell, amazing! Just relax and allow yourself to enjoy and be inspired by the aesthetics and design - Thats what Dwell is all about!
I am sad to say I agree with Ryan, I Dunno, and Sam... I subscribed to Dwell to get ideas to renovate a mid-century modern built by my parents and gifted to my family... Unfortunately as with the pre-fab advertised, most of the ads, and urls point to high end, way out of proportion, cost prohibitive solutions.. I am searching for an architect, and local builders who will respect the bones, yet provide solutions at a much more conservative price tag. I've also decided this will be the last renewal of the publication as the target market contines to increase up the income scale as opposed to aiming to the general marketplace.
I quite agree with some of the above-mentioned frustrations. It seems as though labeling a magazine, home plan, or other product "Modern" drastically affects the price. It's hard to believe the costs of goods and services in these modern, sustainable, or pre-fab homes are so much more expensive than on-site, stick-built homes. In fact, the original intent in pre-fab was to reduce the costs of building a structure onsite (e.g. removing weather-related expenses & time delays and eradicating construction theft). During my search for an affordable existing modern home or pre-fab home kit, I've come up with nothing but air. Great design on paper is lovely. Great design which uses sustainable products but which is also affordable is BRILLIANT. So...where is it?
I have to admit I really don't like the comment section because the tendency is for people to be negative. Try to resist. I agree with Tayo. Let's all take a deep breath and not be dream killers. The reason I read magazines is for inspiration and exposure to projects outside of my region. (If I want to see what someone like me can do with a small budget, I look at blogs.) Magazines are expensive and they need advertising dollars to stay alive. The projects in magazines should be the most amazing, most perfect and ideal possible. If they are not, and there is not an amazing story, I am disappointed. I want to see what designers do when they can do it all right and this doesn't necessarily mean a huge budget but yes sadly much of the time it does. Also, I want to see the forefront of green/sustainable design and sometimes that will be expensive because it is new. Keep your dreams alive! If you are inspired and you see something you like, tape it to your refrigerator and dream about it. How can you get a version of the beauty without the budget. It is called creativity, right?
I designed and built a custom modern Dwell-inspired home in Louisiana for easily 1/3 the price of any prefab home. It was not easy, but with a great contractor and a can-do attitude we got it done. Dwell mag is meant to inspire. But overall, they market their mag to high-minded people with high income. Too bad they forgot that a very large portion of Americans are high-minded eco-friendly people with average income. I suggest you do what I do, cancel your subscription to Dwell and pick it up randomly for ideas and get a quality contractor and a master builder. Cheaper, faster, and better. Remember, housing innovation is not limited to Sweden, South America, New York, or California. Southern builders and laborers are just as skilled and work at a fraction of the cost.
Well, after all the negative, racial, expensive, etc., I took the deeeeep breath and decided to write. Inspiration comes when we open our eyes, our heart jumps with a brilliant design, we close the magazine and we begin to draw on the napkin. I agree: Go put the pictures on the refrigerator, dream, search, $ave, learn, ask, dream again, more pictures....one day everything will come together and THAT house will be there for you. Thank you, Dwell and all the architects for the inspiring notes and pictures that feed the almost-frustrated-architect we all have inside. By the way, I am a physician, I love Dwell even with the expensive and unreachable projects, but It is time for the magazine to show something buildable for the normal people with a Focus in the garage (no ofenses, I have a Ford too) but with contemporary preferences.
I am reading all of your comment's and I am getting really excited. The reason being is that I am building in this style with reasonable cost for the consumer. I will do what Sears did on there starter homes in the past and make a home of this modern style affordable. Don't get discouraged Ryan McKenzie my web site will be available soon look for it. Modern BC Homes. I'm building homes that makes sense, not just in apperance but in cost.
I love the architecture, and yes it may be expensive, but you can take away small ideas and make them your own in a remodel or new design. Great design is great design and can be translated in many ways. That is what I take away from their work and all the comments. Looking at all different kinds of architecture helps you decide what you like and what you don't.
Wow…sounds like a great opportunity folks. Let find a way to produce a great Modern house that’s affordable :<). Is that going to be a DWELL contest coming soon?
Go find a local architect to work with that is sensitive to your budget and your love of modern design. I built my own home for < $55 sq. ft. in 1997 at Tucson AZ.
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