Boston architecture firm French 2D designed the Bay State Cohousing building outside Boston for 30 families to share. Three stories wrap around a central courtyard, which is enlivened by a range of pastel colors spread across railings, windows, doors, and walls.
The home went through an 18-month renovation period.
“From anywhere in the house, you have a sense of the outdoors,” says Melonie, “and yet it’s very private.” Ikegami agrees. “The building was really about the landscape—it can dissolve into the background,” he says. In the master bedroom, Japanese Tansu chests from the couple’s previous home flank a Duxiana bed. The full-height windows and swing door are from Western Window Systems.
Kanuka Valley House by WireDog Architecture
Sliding glass doors and a deck connect the minimalist dwelling to the lush backyard with a giant oak tree. The structure, known as Menlo Park Connect2, was built by Connect Homes.
Why Now, More Than Ever, the ADU Is the Future of Home: Whether it serves as an investment, backyard office, or intergenerational housing, the accessory dwelling unit (ADU) has never made more sense.
Elevation of Church Point House by CHROFI.
The home takes the form of two volumes that slide past each other. The front door leads directly to the center of the home, which connects to the both the entrance courtyard and the rear pool area, dissolving the boundaries between interior and exterior space.
Friends Lab floor plan
All the living spaces and bedrooms enjoy access to outdoor terraces on the north and south sides. The terrace floors are made of bush-hammered Pergaminho limestone to emphasize a seamless indoor/outdoor connection.
A wall of chestnut lends warmth to the east-facing bedroom that extends into the landscape with a “meditation space.” The tatami bed structure and beside tables were designed by the architects in Spanish walnut.
The half bay where the dining space is located opens up to views of the southern fields and provides access to raised vegetable beds.
An open-plan living/dining/kitchen area occupies the heart of the home and opens up to the outdoors on the north and south sides. Chestnut lines both gabled end walls.
Pictured is a rendering of a 570-square-foot 2X lightHouse with a one-bedroom unit stacked atop a two-car garage.
Edgar referred to several precedents when working on the renovation. "I love Chad Randl’s book on the A-frame typology, which allowed me to understand what I had on my hands with its copious illustrations and drawing documentation," he says. "The lovable architect Andrew Geller did at least two seminal A-frame homes during the midcentury in the Hamptons, the Betty Reese houses I and II. I took the catwalk notion from Reese house II."
A rendering of the standard 1,943-square-foot Ayfraym that includes three large walk-out decks and custom windows. Ayfraym also offers architectural services for design modifications.
Photo by Patrick Barta
Manufactured with up to 70 percent recycled steel, the hybrid prefab Graham Residence by Blue Sky Building System limits construction waste to the factory, where it's recycled.
Project Name: Split View Mountain Lodge
In a small community with a common garden, FabCab built this prefab home incorporates high-quality materials like Douglas fir to keep the home from feeling clinical, despite its construction in a factory. The architects incorporated universal design features like flooring that wheelchairs can roll over easily and grab bars, making the homes appropriate for aging clients.
Stillwater Dwellings believes that contemporary, architect-designed prefab homes should be more accessible, sustainable, and affordable. The firm has developed a prefabricated building system that streamlines the design and building process, shortens project timelines, and saves clients money.
The three townhomes were craned onto the foundation over two days, joined together at the seams, and then finished with siding and utility connections.
"Radical sustainability
Acclaimed for being sustainable, affordable, and adorable, tiny homes are also superb teachers when it comes to organization and design.
Nestled in the hills of the Smoky Mountains and oriented to prioritize views of the Appalachian Trail, this prefab cabin is constructed out of three shipping containers topped with a generous, double-sided overhang that creates two porches. The upper-level shipping container is available for vacation rentals on Airbnb.
Asheville-based Logangate Timber Homes has been designing and producing post-and-beam kit houses for over 50 years. Although the company initially offered more traditional dwellings, they have expanded into a range of contemporary cantilevered homes. Their Harmony 3616 model offers 2,200 square feet spread over two floors topped with a butterfly roof.
Based in New York City, Cocoon9 takes a unique approach to prefab homes, offering a line of tiny homes with high-quality construction and finishes, smart technology, energy efficiencies, and versatile spaces that are ready for the modern market.
In Kansas City, Missouri, a family sought to construct a new home using prefabricated structural insulated panels (SIPS) instead of traditional frame construction. The entire kit house is composed of 4' x 8' sections, and the shell was constructed in about a week. The project’s relatively low cost, quick build time, and highly insulated envelope were positives, but the panels also have their limitations. “Most SIP projects look pretty stupid,” Jamie says. “They haven’t been manipulated by someone who’s thinking creatively.” In this case, Jamie augmented the simple panel system with a dynamic cantilever.
Located two hours north of Boston, the Rocky Brook weeHouse is carved out of the grade of a steep creekside lot.
Architect Jim Garrison of Brooklyn-based Garrison Architects was asked to design a retreat for visiting families on an idyllic lakeside expanse of land at a boarding school for troubled teens, Star Commonwealth in Albion, Michigan. To drastically reduce academic interruption and cut site noise, Garrison decided early on to create an 1,100-square-foot modular building dubbed Koby, with two bedrooms on opposite sides of the structure and a common dining area in the middle “as a therapeutic space for families to gather and eat together.”
Since 2005, Turkel Design has been creating prefabricated homes with a distinctly modern, contemporary design. Their Axiom series of prefab houses, launched in 2015, offers 11 distinct designs, starting at around $800,000.
From their headquarters in Austin, Texas, MA Modular provides modular homes to Louisiana and Texas, among other states. Their modern homes are typically inspired by local vernacular building types.
Constructed of bamboo, this Hawaiian bungalow embraces the native culture of the islands. Bamboo Living Homes are the sole approved and certified bamboo abodes.
In 2016, a team with over 25 years' combined experience in real estate development created Atlanta–based Compass Green to develop and market innovative technologies that can significantly transform the way we live.
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