The SwellHouse advertises mass-customization. In essence, it’s mass produced, with the ability to quickly customize it to your modular needs…It essentially comes as a bunch of boxes that get shipped from the factory, bolted together on site with all the energy, plumbing and information systems hidden away in the cavities.
I like the standard design of this house. The “S” model as the call it, has sliding panels and walls that merge the inside world and the outside world by creating courtyards on the inside of the building. They use stand “green” practices and materials to make this house have a smaller environmental footprint, aside from the smaller footprint of the factory produced modular building process overall.
In addition to being an Apple Fanboy, I’ve now become a Michelle Kaufmann fanboy.
I wish I could find a plot here in the city, and order up one of these beauties. The Sunset Breezehouse is exactly what you’d imagine: A place for the breeze to flow.
Outdoor/Indoor living are seamless in this model. There’s literally a glass door, an entire wall of glass doors or clearstory windows in every room…even in the bathroom in some models…could be dicey. Outdoor living space with decks and verandas built right into the plan are also included.
The prefab/modular nature means you can also build to suit your needs. just add another section as needed. MKD also uses sustainable materials as available and factory building processes. Rather than workers driving to a buildsite everyday…and delivering materials to the worksite everyday…everything goes in bulk to the factory where it’s built assembly line style…it’s the IKEA model…reduce transportation and material waste and drastically reduce the build time as well. Good for you, good for the environment…
Next week, we’ll check out the SwellHouse from the Office of Mobile Design.
One of my growing frustrations since I came back from France, is the dependence I have on our cars. Even in North Minneapolis, which is an urban area, the reality of using our public transit to get anywhere is largely hopeless. It takes forever. One of the problems as Jaime pointed out is the lack of mixed use space in our city and the relative lack of opportunity to Live and Work in the same neighborhood.
My wife and I are fortunate. We live on the northside and we both work on the northside. Unfortunately, our childcare is rarely on the northside. This means, we have to drive to make life efficient. It sucks.
Economic, social and environmental justice are all interconnected. But it seems like with intentional design, fast action and planning based not on what I want, but based on what we need will make all the difference.
If we think about how bringing jobs to a community, hiring within a community and making the jobs accessible from the community can impact the economic, social and environmental justice of a community, then we would just do it. Because it seems like the right thing to do. Because God wants us to think about the interconnected web we all live in. And about each other. And because justice is the business of the church.
I want to live & work without making a huge dent in the ozone over New Zealand. Don’t you? The church needs people who are thinking about this stuff. And there are people thinking about these things for sure, but it seems like the voice isn’t loud enough. I had to go to another country figure these things out for myself….how are other people hearing the message…
I’m trying hard to keep this from being a rant…it’s not working. Now I’ll quit.
Yes, I have been widdling away at the reading list. The problem: My brother loaned me his play station portable with Lego Star Wars on it. Been using that for downtime alot. Got bored with that though.
I’ll finish “The World Without Us” today. That is a fascinating and depressing read. The intricate descriptions of how the world has changed through human impact is creepy. We’ve done so much, to make so much disappear. Also intriguing to think about how the earth would bounce back if we were gone.
Also, finally finished off “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan on Audio Book. I’m not sure what it’s like to read his books, but his books have been my favorite audio books by far. The guy who reads them is so good. Head to Audible.com to check it out….
This really is minimalist modern in a large package. The Jeriko House has really clean lines, and full cadre of possible layouts and configurations. It’s really a beautiful design, though maybe a bit too much of a throwback to mid-century modern for me.
Man I love the possibilities of greenliness, customizability, and reproduction of modern prefab…
It seems, more and more that eco-friendly and sustainable design is at the heart of this movement. I just hope it bleeds out from downtown lofts into first ring suburbs and non-commercial areas of the city…
So I thought this was interesting and devastating. I don’t know why, but I really don’t like the idea that all the organic brands are coming from the Conagra’s and Heinz’s of the world…
Most days, I could get away with never getting on the highway…This seems ideal minus the safety factor of needing to have the kids in the backseat pushed up against the back window…
For under 15,000 it’s a pretty sweet deal especially since it claims to run on about $210 of electricity a year…
