California’s Carmel-by-the-Sea is renowned for its scenic charm and proximity to one of the richest marine habitats in the world. But affordable housing for a young family? With home prices averaging $2 million to $3 million, not so much. So, when architect Gabriele Mary Ann Schicketanz sold her place in town and her son, Victor, and his wife, Brittany, wanted to move, along with their middle schoolers, out of their two-bedroom, one-bath home nearby, the obvious solution was a multifamily compound.

Mary Ann, principal and founder of Carmel- and Bangalore, India–based Studio Schicketanz, has made a career designing high-end, custom homes, but to meet the diverse needs of both households while adhering to a tight time frame and budget, she decided that modular housing was the only way to go. “There was no way we could afford a ground-up build,” she explains. “With modular, we know the materials are healthy, and it’s economical to run, so you don’t have huge utility costs.”

They found the perfect blank canvas on a nearly five-acre, $400,000 lot in a planned community near Carmel. Mary Ann’s firm had already done extensive research on manufactured housing for clients, and after considering various prefab companies, she settled on Method Homes. Working closely with its team, she came up with a plan for a three-bedroom house for Victor and his family and a freestanding, one-bedroom ADU for herself, along with a site-built garage. Total cost for the modular units: $1.05 million.

Set beneath a canopy of old oaks, the compound nearly disappears into its surroundings—the charred-wood cladding on the single-story dwellings and the Japanese cedar siding on the garage make them feel as much a part of the landscape as the ancient trees overhead. The protected status of those trees inspired Mary Ann to carefully place the structures around a meadow, orienting them to maximize views as well as privacy. “We knew we had to stay simple for cost reasons, so the magic would have to come from the site design,” she says.

Inside, the architect specified a clean-lined material palette of white oak, wood cabinetry, and black hardware that hearkens back to the area’s ranching past. Sustainability was also important. The homes are all-electric and equipped with heat pumps. Solar panels on the main house feed two large battery packs. Each residence has a high-efficiency wood-burning stove (total cost for both: $9,798) that served as the only heat source before the homes could be connected to the local utility grid.

Mary Ann, who’s now at work on a modular home for clients and has another on the boards, is convinced that manufactured housing represents the future of building. “Many professionals think modular is not creative enough, but that’s where creativity really comes in. You’re only constrained by what you can transport on the road. If you’re able to design something with those measurements in mind, you can design anything.”

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Studio Schicketanz / @studio_schicketanz

Manufacturer & Cabinetry: Method Homes / @methodhomes

Structural Engineering: Ashley & Vance Engineering / @ashleyvanceengineering

Civil Engineering: Grice Engineering

Landscape Design: Ground Studio Landscape Architecture / @groundstudiolandscape

Lighting: Light Ideas Design

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This Multigenerational Home Near Carmel Is a Slice of Prefab Paradise