"James Grayson Trulove's 'PreFabNow'... Attractive And Well Thought Out!" 112 Pageviews...
Written: Dec 03 '07 (Updated Oct 22 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice blend of photos, plans, renderings, and text presented here.
Cons: I noticed an errant break in a paragraph on page 128.
The Bottom Line: The book features at least thirty houses but I only covered eight in this review; I really liked the Marfa Texas retreat, but I couldn't squeeze it in here.
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| sfarmer76's Full Review: James Grayson Trulove - Prefab Now |
PreFabNow, $26.37 Amazon.com, is a two hundred page square-format book from author James Grayson Trulove. His recent hardbacks include 25 Apartments and Lofts Under 2500 Square Feet, New Sustainable Homes, and The Modern Townhouse. This volume highlights prime examples of striking prefabricated homes on the market today – and examines facets such as cost, durability, and sustainability. The book also includes drawings, plans, renderings, and sumptuous full-page color photography from various architects and photographers.
Resolution: 4 Architecture envisioned the Mountain Retreat that occupies 18 of the first 30 pages appearing after the Contents and Foreword. This 1,800-square-foot home was assembled in a factory before being erected on-site in the Catskills. Once the prefabricated bars were raised, exterior sheathing of cedar board and cementitious panels were applied; a deck for entertaining was also added. My favorite element on this house is the butterfly roof with clerestory windows.
English countryside homes like Cedar House – designed by Hudson Architects – are enviable. This 3,450-square-foot home (utilizing off-site construction) was erected in just one week. Timber-panel floors, roofing, and walls allowed for easy installation; 15,000 untreated cedar shingles complete the exterior. Because the roof structure was lightweight, roof beams were not required – therefore the residence has soaring ceilings and vast open spaces. My favorite feature on this structure is the cantilevered corner window in aluminum-frame.
Flexibility and portability are found in the Portable House from Office of Mobile Design. This California dwelling has ample living and sleeping spaces divided by a kitchen and bath. Once the 12-by-60-foot steel frame is trucked to its site and set on a foundation, the exterior is fitted with metal siding and translucent polycarbonate panels that serve as windows. My favorite detail here is the bamboo flooring, since bamboo is a sustainable hardwood.
Another home designed by Resolution: 4 Architecture is in rural Virginia. The Country Retreat is a 2,600-square-foot house with communal areas on the lower level and private areas on the upper level. Once its prefabricated bars were raised, exteriors of horizontal cedar siding and cement-board accents were applied; a ground-level stone courtyard conceals a swimming pool. My favorite attribute of this retreat is the view from the dining/living area onto the aforementioned courtyard.
Besides the Mountain Retreat, my favorite residence in PreFabNow, is the Red Cabin designed by Alchemy Architects. Perched in the Minnesota woods, a 750-square-foot house with two bedrooms and a galley kitchen evokes the image of a tugboat stranded atop a hill. Configured from two pre-built modules, the home appears spacious due to ground level and rooftop decks. Clad in rough-sawn siding, the house is painted firehouse red to mimic nearby cabins.
Next I’ll discuss the X 1 which is part of the X-Line from Hive Modular. This 2,300-square-foot modular home – also located in Minnesota – has 15 foot ceilings in the dining, kitchen, living, master and second bedroom, and study area. Its exterior is covered with maintenance-free fiber-cement and metal siding, and the windows are all black-clad aluminum. I’d say the architects at Hive Modular are fans of the artist Mondrian, based on this prototype.
Of the houses featured here, I especially like the Mod3 Riverview. This green home was designed by Studio 804 of Lawrence, Kansas. All its ceiling, floor and wall cavities are filled with recycled cellulose instead of fiberglass insulation. The exterior is home grown Douglas fir used to reduce fuel consumption associated with shipping materials from overseas. Floor to ceiling windows utilized here also insure ample natural light, reducing the need for artificial light.
While I can’t imagine living in a Mobile Dwelling Unit – designed by Lot-Ek – it does possess a certain post-Millennial charm. This unit is built from recycled shipping containers. Its interior and sub-volumes are fabricated from fixtures, plywood, and plastic-coated plywood. When all the sub-volumes are extended, the square footage of the dwelling increases by ten percent. Overall, I’d say this is an excellent coffee table book for anyone that’s contemplating buying a prefab home.
(47/112)
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The Book:
PreFabNow,
Collins Design
ISBN-13:
978-0-06-114988-7
Pages:
194 Pages
Rating:
4 Stars
Chapters:
Twenty-Three Chapters
If You Like PreFabNow, you might enjoy:
Prefab Prototypes,
Prefab Elements,
Prefab Modern,
Prefab,
Prefab Home,
Visit the Publisher’s Official Website:
www.harpercollins.com
Visit Related Websites:
www.andersonanderson.com
www.cleverhomes.net
www.designmobile.com
www.hivemodular.com
www.hudsonarchitects.co.uk
www.kithaus.com
www.ku.edu
www.lot-ek.com
www.prebuilt.com.au
www.re4a.com
www.seangodsell.com
www.weehouses.com
Visit the Author’s Wikipedia entry:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Grayson_Trulove
Recommended:
Yes
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sfarmer76
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