Comments on: PREFAB FRIDAY: Marmol Radziner’s Utah House

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 22:26:29 +0000

First of all, make the distinction between panelized and modular. There’s an enormous difference and it makes no sense comparing apples to oranges. Modular involves nominally complete sections of the house being joined on a foundation, and panelized is a “kit-of-parts” that involves a lot more on-site contracting work. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. For those that don’t like MRP’s modular approach, panelized construction can be cheaper if you assemble it yourself (sometimes), and is more hospitable to a sloped roof.

The reason the majority of _modular_ houses have flat roofs is that they are the size and shape of the allowable shipping envelope on highways. There have been experiments with shipping a roof frame assembly to be constructed on site, but then your “complete” house gets delivered without a roof… you see the problem.

By: Firoz

Firoz — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 19:47:22 +0000

As far as aesthetics go, I don’t like the appearance of this either, although I completely applaud their efforts at environmentally conscious design.

I suppose a lot of prefabs look very similar because they all adopt a single-storey long rectangular form. When you add the obligatory “indoor/outdoor living” feature (which is only really suitable in a non-urban environment), what you usually get is a bit of decking and floor-to-ceiling glass windows or sliding doors.

How much variation can you have with a singe-storey rectangular form, some decking, and floor-to-ceiling windows? Well, not much it would seem from the prefab examples that have been posted so far! Or am I being too cynical?!

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 15:22:20 +0000

>> Why are so many of the “sustainable pre-fabs” ugly modernist boxes?

This is a can of worms…
but don’t forget the Loq-kit home from PAF Arch that took second place in the C2C competition.
It doesn’t have a flat roof – not certain about chair rails though :)
http://www.pafarc.com/loqkit.html

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:52:50 +0000

How sustainable is a giant prefab in the middle of nowhere? Also, I agree with the first comment about aesthetics. Why are so many of the “sustainable pre-fabs” ugly modernist boxes?

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 11:26:23 +0000

True enough, the eye of the beholder it is.
I’ll second Aristotle on this home – simplly stunning.

Marmol Radziner and now MKD are operating their own factories to produce homes – something once thought to have been the kiss of death that sank the previous prefab efforts of days gone (think Lustron). I guess we’ll see. Again, really a graceful and well done design.

By: Aristotle

Aristotle — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:14:34 +0000

Funny, about the eye of the beholder…

I think it’s stunningly beautiful.

By: royal

royal — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 14:15:55 +0000

Green that may be, and spiffily modular, but that is one ugly son of a house. Is every prefab architect against chair rails and angled roofs?