iT House Off-Grid, High Desert Prefab

So I stumbled upon the iT House construction blog and was completely blown away by the documentation they're posting.  It's an incredible little home that was designed by Taalman Koch for a five-acre lot in the high desert.  It'll be a model home and completely off-grid.  There's an on-site septic tank, 2500 gallon domestic water tank, and eight solar PV panels by Evergreen -- and the home is just the right size, too. 

Design is paramount with the iT House.   There's Bulthaup cabinets, a Fireorb chimney, 3form backsplashes, and Polygal cladding.  I really like the Sarah Morris / Liam Gillick panels, too. 

In looking at the images of the all glass home, you'll notice the aluminum framing by Bosch.  The Bosch system is used for assembly line robots and test benches, but Taalman Koch found that it's the perfect rust-proof, lightweight structural system for a smaller abode.  It's light enough to be assembled by two people.  Make sure to check the blog for images of the whole process. 

Comments

[matt]

when i finally end up becoming a non-violent "kasinski type", which is how i feel sometimes, this is what i'm doing.

hope you're well preston.

cheers,
matt

[Preston]

I know, Matt, I was sitting here last night thinking about the same thing. I'm seriously tempted to just find a plot of land and go completely off-grid. Maybe grow a beard, too, if my wife would let me. It'd be nice to grit it out and build one of these with some buddies. My only obstacle is the commute -- gotta make into downtown to work.

You ramping up for any cool projects for the spring time?

[Offgrid]

Wow - nice prefab. We're going to install some micro wind turbines in the back yard. Maybe power the fountain or some night lights.

[Preston]

@Offgrid - that'll be cool. Feel free to email me or drop a link so we can blog about your offgrid experience.

[Dave Huff]

Beautiful!

Looks like Terlingua, Texas. Show us more!

Dave

[Preston]

@Dave - where is that in Texas? I'm from Dallas. I might just have to build my own of this and blog the images!! Very tempting.

[Timothy]

I really like this home, just not sure about all the glass. I would have to make sure I didn't have any nosy neighbors (peaking in)!

Really nice prefab green home.

[steve]

No thermal break whatsoever in these structures: it will get hot in summer and it will freeze in winter. Period. No way around it with these materials. So, why use these materials? Modernist fetish object.

So there's the ITHOUSE (TK Architects) then there's the KITHAUS (kithaus.com) "KitHaus" is a bit less leaky but deceptively expensive. ITHOUSE uses Bosch extrusions. KITHAUS another proprietary extrusion but, hey, it is a HAUS! (..Built in LA's porn capital the San Fernando Valley) How impressive! Even more of a fetish. Nothing like something German to give us the impression of functional precision even if it is largely dysfunctional!

It's off alright...

[johnstevens]

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This is so interesting! Thanks for all of the great resources, too!