Inhabitat » PREFAB FRIDAY: Resolution 4 Swingline

September 28, 2007

PREFAB FRIDAY: Resolution 4 Swingline

by Sarah Rich

Resolution4 Architecture, Res4 Architecture, Swingline prefab, Swingline, prefab house, prefab housing, prefab construction, prefab home, green building

Resolution: 4 Architecture, a pillar in the prefab community, has a new completed project to brag about. It’s called the Swingline- a vacation home in the Hamptons built for a Manhattan-based family with sustainable style on the brain. Though Res4 has been producing prefab concepts for years, from the Dwell Home to their Mountain Retreat, we’ve never been able to see real live photos of real live construction from these architects (save for their brilliant rapid prototype birdhouses) until now, and the Swingline house proves that their prototypes don’t hold empty promises.

Resolution4 Architecture, Res4 Architecture, Swingline prefab, Swingline, prefab house, prefab housing, prefab construction, prefab home, green building

Manufactured by Simplex Industries, Swingline’s exterior is made from T&G Clear Cedar Siding and Cembonit Board, and the interior uses maple and bamboo for cabinetry and flooring. The ample home has two master suites, five bathrooms, a pool and pool house and a roof deck.

No doubt the scale of the Swingline stokes the fire on the debate over how big is too big for prefab. In fact, at 4,200 square feet, the project really begs the question in general. How much space do we really need — particularly for a home we use only part of the year? And if it’s necessary to take a round-trip journey to and from the place on each visit, how green can the place really be? The all-inclusive impact of building and using it is far from negligible, no matter how many green materials went into it. Nevertheless, we sometimes need a flash of fantasy-level amazement like glamorous green prefabs and speedy little electric sportscars to see that sustainable approaches can exist in unexpected places.

+ Resolution: 4 Architecture

Resolution4 Architecture, Res4 Architecture, Swingline prefab, Swingline, prefab house, prefab housing, prefab construction, prefab home, green building

14 Responses to “PREFAB FRIDAY: Resolution 4 Swingline”

Michael Says:

September 28th, 2007 at 11:13 am

I think I am about to yawn…

William Says:

September 28th, 2007 at 1:21 pm

me as well. better it was never built for the environments sake.

greg.org Says:

September 28th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

yeah, plus it looks like they wasted water hosing down the pool deck just for the photos. Why couldn’t they just sit around and wait until it rained?

agneta Says:

September 28th, 2007 at 7:28 pm

something cannot be called enviroment friendly if:
-even tough its prefab, still has the dimensions of a mcmansion.
-its located in the hamptons
-requires a fossil fueled vehicle for its occupants when they need groceries.

Jeff Says:

September 28th, 2007 at 11:06 pm

I think Lego needs to get into this. “Fully customizable, eco friendly boxes, made from recycled plastic, that you can snap together and live in”.

Thats what this is right? Boxes?

Richie Says:

September 29th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Hey Jeff,

Don’t laugh. I’ve been thinking about recycled plastic hollow bricks,maybe 8″ - 12″ thick that ‘lego-ed’ into each other. One course gets laid into a ‘mortar/glue’ base… then they get filled with sand or soil, or left hollow. Then next layer is laid… etc. The ‘mortar’ binds/sets and seals the structure. A ‘Lego’ type system of large, lightweight, structurally strong ‘Blocks’ would be GREAT !!!!!
A ‘Block House’… for visionaries who are ‘Block Heads’ !!!!!! Where’s Shigeru Ban on this ???? Lets tell him about it ?

mark w. Says:

September 29th, 2007 at 4:09 pm

I remember the resolution4architecture dwell home was going to cost $100, oops 200 I mean 250. a square foot. The promise of prefab seems like a tremendous failure at this point, economics and architecture are both compromised. Selling huge houses as green…fantastic. I have a hummer hybrid I’d like to sell you

jimmy Says:

October 1st, 2007 at 8:42 pm

Wasted water hosing down the deck? Anyone who actually looks
at the pics can see puddles on the ground, clouds in the sky and
water stains on the siding…please do your homework before you post.

sammy Says:

October 2nd, 2007 at 8:34 am

how is this green???
how come just 1 family needs so much space for vacationing?
and why in pictures during daytime,are there 8 lights on in the living room? 6 in the bedroom..
and what’s with the lights on the outside over each door or window.

Chris Says:

October 2nd, 2007 at 5:19 pm

jeez… this seems like the antichrist of not only sustainable design, but also pre-fab as well. other projects by res 4 seem to embrace green principles more than this…. since it happens to be in the hamptons, is this project only as good as the client?

Jana Says:

October 4th, 2007 at 8:26 am

Yes, gross, yes huge, yes Manhattan family (boo), yes flight of fancy for people who can afford it. But also, yes prefab, and since clearly these folks were going to build, why not build this instead of a neo-Venetian electrified waste-making McMonster? The truth is, most likely, most rich people aren’t going to live that green. They don’t have to. I loved that Sarah covered this house, pointing out its goods as well as evils. And Mark W. put it so well. But I think it’s clear Sarah didn’t miss the point, she’s’re bringing it up for discussion because it needs to be discussed. So I wrote about it this morning (should be up later this afternoon: moli.com/p/moliview/1/category.) Keep the prefab fires burning and feel free to comment — jana.

Kat Says:

October 21st, 2007 at 5:32 am

thank goodness they built “green.” think of the waste building and living in a house built with conventional methods. human nature has to be taken into account. sadly, it won’t change overnight. and just think, they’ll be bragging to all their yuppie friends who have money to burn, and perhaps set the eco-friendly one-upmanship in motion. plus, they’re putting in their monetary “vote,” and we all know that if there’s a viable market with money to be made, then more businesses will be jumping on the bandwagon.

Ed Says:

October 24th, 2007 at 12:20 pm

So with all of the money to burn to build such a monstrosity, where are all of the solar photovoltaic panels? A roof that large could easily accomodate a 10-kilowatt system! It’s obvious that the owners of this house did not place “greenness” as a priority since they could have easily shaved off 500sf of size to pay for such a system. It’s green bling.