This Economical Modular Prefab Fits Right in With the Woods

The brief was basic: a simple guesthouse where a family of five could live for a few years while the architecture firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed their main residence. "Since we were living out in the forest"—a wooded, 482-acre plot at the edge of Bend, Oregon—"we wanted a house that felt like we were living outside and that was resistant to fire," says James Verheyden, a hand surgeon. He and his wife, Jean, an otolaryngologist, also hoped to build the 2,084-square-foot structure efficiently and, given its future role as a guesthouse, somewhat affordably. Besides those guidelines, they gave the firm carte blanche. "When someone comes to me for an operation, they don’t tell me how to operate," James says.