Plan of Steel
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Tokyo Blues
Cities are a favorite subject for photographers, filled as they are with visual stimuli and primed for artistic criticism. A new series of images by Nurri Kim takes as its target the city of Tokyo…
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Blu's Unfolding Prefab
In our December/January issue, Prefab Perfected, we offer a shopper's guide to the best of American prefabricated architecture. We take you through over a dozen firms that matter right now, one of…
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Hang Around and Toss Around
A year and a half ago, three Danish powerhouse designers—Lars Holme Larsen of Kilo Design, Bjarke Ingels of BIG, and Jens Martin Skibsted of Skibsted Ideation—joined forces to create…
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Cage Steel Baskets
The busted plastic laundry basket has been given a sleek new identity as a powder-coated steel bin. If your dirty clothes more often find themselves on the floor, keep your favortie mugs or daily…
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Blue Concentrate Shower Curtain Ring
Shower curtain rings might not cross your mind as a top addition to a traditional wish list, but if you picture your bathroom accented with these funky, functional pieces we think you'll make an…
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o-RE-gami Lampshade
Leather gets a second life in French designer Matali Crasset's o-RE-gami lampshade. The regenerated natural material is cut and folded into place in Italy, and the resulting pendant has the…
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Kyle Blue Discusses Design at Dwell with Arkitip
Our very own design director Kyle Blue recently took Arkitip around the Dwell office for a peek at the inside workings of the magazine--from the lifestyle the informs our stories to the communal…
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"Paint Grip" Steel
I like to use "Paint Grip" steel, which is a galvanized steel that's been submerged in a phosphate bath. The metal is designed to receive paint, which is one of the reasons why I chose…
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Cage Steel Baskets
The busted plastic laundry basket has been…
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Blue Concentrate Shower Curtain Ring
Shower curtain rings might not cross your mind as…
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o-RE-gami Lampshade
by Matali CrassetLeather gets a second life in French designer…
Beautiful. You call this a hybrid pre-fab, but how is it really different from a kit built home?
Amy -- This is really a semantics issue I guess. The system we used to build this house certainly qualifies the home as a prefab. We fabricated most of the elements off site in a factory setting and brought them to the site and assembled the house there. So yes, a kit house or a flat-pack house. Many prefabs, of course, are built in a factory as large boxes or modules and then shipped to the site where they are craned into place. For our system we say hybrid because, while most of the house is assembled on site, we did build one key module fully in the factory. That module was what we call our "core". This 8-foot-by14-foot module contains the bathroom, hallway, washer/dryer closet, hot water closet, HVAC air handler and the electrical sub-panel. Its size allowed us to use a small truck and small crane to ship and set the unit, unlike the much more daunting requirements for setting large home modules. Thus hybrid prefab. Dave McAdam
Handsome house, but $325/sf?! I'm sorry, but as simple as the design is, it seems like you need to get your price point down to around $150/sf to be competitive. Call me when you figure that out and I'll have clients waiting.
Gorgeous! I also love that tree-slice coffee table. Who makes them? Thanks
I appreciate the design concept and also love the location. I am wondering if living in this area is sustainable as far as utilities and commute. I agree that the price point is a bit high, but I imagine that any prototype is going to cost more of a premium than if they were reproduced.
Perfect location for a home like that. Awesome!
I love this concept, and it is quite elegant. I believe it could be a great solution for some homesites at my development. Cost is the challenge. Also, how do you think the Texas Hill country climate would work. Hot and more humid than the desert. Exciting! I'd like to receive updates. Sharon Seligman
I love this house and would love to see one (or more!) up here in Topanga Canyon or Malibu. I'll add a link to my site asap. It's great how the Yucca Valley house looks like it just landed there. Cool.
It is refreshing to see a house using steel. I like the mix of the structural Tube Steel Columns along with the use of light gauge framing. It should be used more in housing. I'm disappointed though at the price point per lf.
The tree-slice coffee tables are available through Christopher Kennedy Design in Palm Springs. They are made from reclaimed wood.
Note to Sharon Seligman: We have received many expressions of interest from folks in Austin and in the Texas Hill Country about Blue Sky Homes. Indeed, several of us will be in your area March 24-28 and would be happy to meet with you. I am at dmcadam@blueskyhomesllc.com.
Great article! Congratulations David! The workmanship appears to be exquisite. Being a design professional having researched dozens of house kits for clients and seeing implemented houses in my hometown of Santa Barbara; the only ones truly worth pursuing have a higher price tag. So it goes; you get what you pay for. As you know with great modern architecture the details appear effortless, however, in reality it is quite the opposite: Modern details, when done well (apparently in your case), require finesse and time which directly impact the cost. This being said in addition to the engineering and environmental amenities of your product the square foot price is understandable. I think the misconception of house kits is that people think they are all suppose to be inexpensive, however, what they offer is efficient, timely (practically instant) means by which to fabricate a house. I suppose it depends upon your objective. We live in a world where people are not willing to wait and in the process sacrifice quality. It appears you have figured out a way to successfully provide quality in a timely manner while being environmentally respectful. No doubt it is only a matter of time before we see Blue Sky Homes in Santa Barbara.
Might someone be able to tell me who the chair and ottoman in the living room (on page 85) is manufactured by and where one could purchase one? It's a fantastic choice and would fit well with my vintage Dux sofa and womb chair.
Rick, I believe the chair & ottoman are also by Christopher Kennedy Design in Palm Springs. He's on the web.
I was honored to serve as the interior designer for this home, selecting the furnishings and the eco-friendly materials used throughout. The groovy orange chair and ottoman are an original design from the Christopher Kennedy Collection. For more information, visit www.christopherkennedy.com or email us at info@christopherkennedy.com
Love the Butterfly Chair on the porch! I got mine from Circa50.com and they're fabulous.
What is the water situation like for the home?
In regards to the water situation for the home....we drilled a well and actually have very high quality water. The only "landscaping" we did was to put in a few native plants and they require no water so our overall water usage is very small. We elected not to use the roof for rainwater harvesting because our location gets so little rainfall.
Congrats, how do i get an internship with your fine firm? I'm returning for masters in structural engineering in the fall and want temporary work with a prefab firm like yours. thanks! i'm blogged a lot about prefab/hybrid homes like this on my blog.
one thing that i've always wondered is how you leak-proof a house that is assembled that quickly. i've heard that prefabs tend to leak.
Note to form4function: We have zero leak issues with our house and it has been a wetter-than-usual winter for us (including two snow storms). Our roof is a standing seam metal roof and I would be surprised if it ever leaks. Our house was site built so perhaps that's where the difference lies. As for an internship please feel free to contact us via our web site. Thanks!
Can you provide some info on the outdoor deck floor? Specifically, who makes it and ease of installation. Thanks.
beautiful house on extreme site
The outdoor deck floor consists of 12-inch wide planks of perforated sidewalk grating with the trade name Perf-O-Grips from AEP Span. They are fabricated from 13 gauge galvanized steel. Our architects, the great folks at o2 Architecture in Palm Springs, suggested this material to keep with our themes of steel, fast installation and minimal maintenance. We were hesitant at first because we worried that it would get too hot in the summer. Turns out it doesn't (probably because the large perforations allow plenty of air to circulate around the steel). We also worried that it would not be comfortable on bare feet. That also has proven not to be the case. An added benefit we have discovered is that dirt tends to drop off shoes before people enter the house! Only two negatives...some tables and chairs don't work well with the perforations if their legs are too skinny and small dogs refuse to set foot on it (this can also be a plus depending upon your point of view!). Dave McAdam
Beautiful design and very innovative at the location. My concern is the creek/stream running under the house. Don't they have flash floods in the desert?
As for flash floods....yes, there certainly are flash floods in the desert. But our little seasonal creek drains such a small catchment area that even a dramatic downpour would not yield more than a couple of inches of runoff below us. At its lowest point above the "creek" the house is more than four feet above. For each of our off-grade projects we take care to study the historical runoff patterns and to site the house well out of reach of even 100-year-flood levels. Dave McAdam
Hi Chris, Great Job on getting this design to Dwell Magazine....
What sizes of galvanized feeder tubs were used for your "cowboy hot tub"? Its a really cool look and so basic, which makes it really appealing. Thanks in advance for any info.
The house looks fantastic and I love the color and modern comfort of the chair and how it plays off the rocks outside.
Awesome! Congratulations, I know this was a big score for you guys. Let’s sell tons of them – the value is there, people just need to understand the fundamental differences between a concept and an execution then equate the sustainability of the product or as my wife says “cost per wearing”. Nice work, looks like I might have a couple of these sold in Palm Springs and maybe in Santa Barbara by 2011/12
As for the cowboy soak tub...we bought two galvanized livestock water tanks from a local feed store. One is five feet in diameter and the other is six feet in diameter. We then nested them, leaving a gap on both sides and on the bottom. We filled this gap with that canned spray foam to create an insulated barrier (the last three inches around the top we filled with concrete for a better aesthetic). For plumbing we simply provided two openings for filling, draining and circulating. We did not want jets since we really only wanted a soak tub. In the winter we will the tank with free hot water from our roof-top solar hot water panels and in the heat of the summer we fill the tank with cold well water. We have a small electric water heater to keep the water hot in the winter. The tanks are made by Hastings but other manufacturers make similar tanks. Dave McAdam
Well, this looks like a premium quality home that should certainly sell for more than $150 per square foot. Considering the quality built-ins and the forever lasting steel roof, everything about this screams quality. I am sure the front deck and railing are included in the price. I think everyone should also understand that a smaller home always cost more per square foot that a larger home. This is certainly the Porsche 911 or homes. Keep up the good work and don't forget that 2nd bathroom....
I love how some people take advantage of the current trends and ruin the fun for everybody else. Now people like me, planning building a home using recycled, sustainable and affordable materials will have to pay the inflated price created by companies like Blue Sky Homes, thanks a lot. Words like "sustainable", "recyclable", "affordable", etc, are taken out of context by people like Mr. McAdam and turned into this crazy idea that building a house for $350 a square foot is ok, unbelievable! Using all the trendy, key words to make you believe that it is for the good of the environment to do so. He even says it himself: “but people are willing to spend a little more money, because it’s better engineered and better for the environment.” People like Mr. McAdam are the reason why the housing market is in the hole it is....stop inflating things for no reason, you just built an overpriced tin house. The true challenge, good for everybody would be to build it for under $100 a square foot. Marcelo Cento
I stumbled across this article by chance and was blown away. You see, as a regional director for the American Iron and Steel Institute, I have been very involved in the seismic testing of this structural system and in the subsequent attempt to have it referenced in the U.S. model building codes. The ICC just finished processing changes for the structural portion of the 2012 IBC and I am very happy to report that it is now a recognized structural system. It's come a long way from just being an industrial platform. Enjoy your home!!
Note to Marcelo: I did not set out to build a house as cheaply as possible. I set out to build a house as sensitively as possible on a very challenging parcel of land. I did not want to kill the ancient trees and bulldoze the fantastic boulders. I wanted a house that would sit very lightly on the land. It was those imperatives that drove me to the steel frame system highlighted in this article. You can build a house much less expensively on a flat lot. Indeed at Blue Sky Homes we are now quoting about $171 per square foot for our advanced steel frame system built slab-on-grade. And if you want to pay less than that you can do so...but you likely will not get some or all of the advantages that we offer (fire- resistant, mold-proof, rot-proof, termite-proof, very fast construction, etc.).
I love the whole concept, I am however in the real world with Marcelo. $ 350 a sq ft is impossible for pretty much everyone. When are the rest of us poor folk going to be blessed with a design in the $100 sq ft range and why is it so hard to design. Lord knows there is a big fat market waiting.
I live in Philadelphia and there are some great modern homes going up in between the older rowhomes in certain neighborhoods, but I would love to see even more truly affordable, pre-fab steel homes like the one above (modified for rowhome sized spaces) inserted into the grid. A home for a couple or one person interested in an open living space, and maybe two bedrooms at the most to start with. Family homes would be nice, too. A master plan of neighborhoods in cooperation with city planners...why is this so impossible?
I agree with Barbara O....and you will be interested to know that we are working on just such an inner city in-fill, multi-story home design using our advanced steel framing system. Our engineering can be used on buildings of up to three stories tall. Stay tuned!
This house is built on rocks, surrounded by rocks, and you know what? It rocks! Seems to be really neat place to live. Hope i'll get my own house as cool as this one day.
I have had no luck ordering the Perf-O-Grips sidewalk decking made by AEP Span. Can you provide the name/number of the supplier so I can try to get them? No one in AEP Span seems to know who to connect me with. Thanks, Tony Settel
Tony, This may be my error. Try contacting McNichols Co. in Cerritos, California. The phone number is (562) 921-3344. Ask for Juan Andrade. Hope this helps. Dave McAdam
We build green, energy efficient homes in the Texas Hill Country using a similar system. The wall panels already have wiring and much of the plumbing in the walls. The steel studs are embedded in 5" of polystyrene and finished with a cement polymer adhesive on both sides so you don't have to sheetrock. Our homes start at $80 a square foot.
Diana: please email me with your web site. becci.wells@att.net. We also want to build a home out of extremely affordable metal prefab commercial type buildings. We are greenminded but beer budgeted and need a much more affordable approach. We need the price to be more in the neighborhood of $45 per sq.ft. Yes, that is do-able. Located in San Antonio, we need help from anyone who has achieved constructing a home from commercial metal buildings. We love all the concepts of Mr. McAdam's home, but alas, we will never be able to afford that kind of construction. Thanks for your help Diana.
I was curious to know what gauge the galvanized corrugated steel is? I have been looking to reside my whole house (890 sq ft.) with corrugated steel but have not figured out what gauge to use. I love the design on the house by the way!! Thanks for the response, Monty.
Steel in the desert may seem like a bad idea because of heat issues but I actually think it is a great material. Wood certainly offers less transference of heat and cold than does steel but wood is very problematic from other standpoints. For one thing it is quickly destroyed by the harsh environment. And wood is far from a green product given how destructive our forest practices are.
Hi, does Blue Sky homes build in Costa Rica? If so, is it around the same 171 per sq foot or more?
Hi Monty, Sorry for the response delay on your question about the siding on our house. Here is the info you requested: 26 gauge 7/8” Bare (iron-ox) AEP Span Nu-Wave corrugated and galvanized steel sheets. Dave McAdam
In response to the question about Blue Sky Homes building in Costa Rica....we are avidly working toward providing our products outside of the United States so we should have a conversation about your particular requirements. I see that you have separately contacted us via our website so I am glad we are in contact. Dave McAdam
I have had no luck ordering the Perf-O-Grips sidewalk decking made by AEP Span. Can you provide the name/number of the supplier so I can try to get them? No one in AEP Span seems to know who to connect me with. Thanks, Tony Settel
I agree with Barbara O....and you will be interested to know that we are working on just such an inner city in-fill, multi-story home design using our advanced steel framing system. Our engineering can be used on buildings of up to three stories tall. Stay tuned! Read more: http://www.dwell.com/slideshows/plan-of-steel.html?slide=3&c=y#ixzz0vcwRcwL6
That is my dream house. The place is very unique, peaceful and specially away from pollution and noise. Great job!
That's really a nice home to live. Do you live alone there? How far your neighbors lives?
To Christian Wilderness Program: Thank you for your kind words. We use the house quite often as a weekend get-away home. Our nearest neighbors are well out of sight but not too far away. It feels very private. Dave McAdam
Beautiful. You call this a hybrid pre-fab, but how is it really different from a kit built home? Are you sure is it a kit built home? its really beautiful actually.
Beautiful. You call this hybrid teams, but how it actually differs from a set built home? Are you sure that this kit is built house? its very nice indeed.
Thanks! I haven't done much work recently but way back when I spent a fair amount of time figuring out how to handle this.
It looks really nice house. Just wanted to ask a few things. Do u get snakes over there where the house is built?. How far did you have to dig for water?. Do the steel frame go in the ground or concrete as a foundation?. It's looks like as if the pillars are just resting on the ground and not buried to provide more stability.
To Funny: Thank you. There are snakes in the area but the house largely floats above the landscape so we have had no snakes in the house. The house is supported by six steel columns that are bolted to concrete footings that measure 24"x24"x24". The size of the those footings was determined by our soils tests which showed that we are essentially sitting on bedrock. The house is very secure.
This is a brilliant information. Thanks for the info
This is fantastic
If you have ever thought about installing steel shelving in your garage or storage shed, then you might be wondering how to go there.
Each steel element is made in a factory and delivered to the building site, where it goes up like an erector set, requiring zero welding, little assembly time, and reduced costs.
Hello, The idea of a steel frame home such as yours is wonderful. I hope more and more people decide to use it. I just wonder what the add'l cost of having the utilities brought in - power, telephone, etc., the well, bringing the water to the house, etc., added to the cost. Those things don't seem to get mentioned in articles such as this and they are significent. Also, did you get a construction loan? If so, did the lender make it harder any harder to get than a stick built site house? Thanks, L. Malley
Thanks for your consistent and positive feedback Mr. McAdams. You have built a beautiful home. $350/sf is alot to pay, but it looks to be worth every penny! A slideshow of one of your less expensive models would be encouraging! Thank you again and best to you!
Over all this is a fantastic house, I am sure that the architect has a brilliant and sharp mind because this is not a easy structure.
Thanks to knowledge for me.
What a really great project! I especially like the steel decking & cable railing! 2-3 years ago when I was re-doing my deck I was considering this kind of surface, both for aesthetics & to prevent termite damage, but couldn't find a source for it. Next time I will know where to go... beautiful job!
I love this article "Plan of Steel". The Blue Sky prototype home and this prefab ideais what I have been searching for as we begin to look to build a house that is low maintenance in future and thought about concrete and steel. Concrete seemed to expensive so am thinking steel and I love this "it’s mold resistant and fireproof, and it can be made with up to 70 percent reused materials and is completely recyclable itself" and this is another idea I was concerned about "after months of research, the team found a solution in the form of steel studs insulated with expanded polystyrene foam." This home is a winner and the design ideas and architecture is a winner. The price is a little more than expected at $265 a square foot but as I see it it will last forever and it is "The Prius of prefabs". Great job guys. Great article!!! Awesome Home! Thanks for the help and ideas. Thomas
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