Jetson Green

MoMA Home Delivery Prefabs Debut This Sunday!

A while back when we heard about MoMA's prefab exhibit, Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling, we were pretty psyched.  I mean, if you can't tell by our archives with over 135 articles, we're pretty obsessed with green prefab as the future of home building.  The MoMA exhibit will tell an interesting story of the history of prefabrication starting in 1833.  I'm sure we've come a long way in over 175 years, but there's also the possibility that we've forgotten a few lessons in the process.  So I like the juxtaposition of the historical with the modern.  The modern will include five contemporary prefab structures, all of which have been assembled on the museum's 54th street lot.  Starting this Sunday, July 20 through October 20, visitors will get the chance to tour the below designs in real life. 

Blu Homes Launches Convenient, Green, Affordable Abodes

So I have some renderings and information on Blu Homes, and I've also spoken with the folks in charge of this company.  They're serious about building homes that are green, convenient, affordable, and also perfectly sized.  The management team has considerable experience in this industry and I expect to see great things.  Plus, with homes in development in both Utah and Massachusetts, you may be able to catch a live walk-through as early as this winter.  So let's get a small preview. 

Japanese Zero Emissions Home Unveiled for G8 Summit

In conjunction with The Hokkaido Toyako G8 Summit in Japan occurring right now from July 7-9, 2008, Japan and Sekisui House have released details of The Zero Emissions House, a high-tech, prefabricated home designed in the vernacular of traditional Japan.  As the G8 Summit focuses on various issues pressing on the world right now, representative nations will be discussing the environment and how to deal with climate change.  In that regard, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is constructing the house a short distance from the summit to show Japan's potential contribution to cutting emissions in the world's built environment. 

Modern Prefab Cabin Available For Rent on East Coast

If you've been listening to the chatter on prefab and thought: "What's the big deal with prefab homes?" or "Why would anyone ever want to own a prefab?", now's your chance to find out.  In his most recent update from A Prefab Project, Chris dropped a link to his shiny new website for Lost River Modern, a prefab cabin in Lost River, West Virginia.  And as you can tell from the images on the new website, Lost River Modern is quite incredible to look at.  Designed by Resolution: 4 Architecture, creators of the original Dwell Home, Lost River Modern is the first and only res4 home available for guests.  You can (and probably should) rent the place and completely chill out.  I see some slots are already filled up, so if you're interested in testing the prefab waters on the East Coast, you better get on it quick. 

Toyota Looking to Expand Stylish Prefab Homes Unit

Forget the fact that I lived in Japan and absolutely love its culture, I didn't know that Toyota had a homes unit.  And they've been in the business of making homes for over twenty years!  The company adapts automobile manufacturing technology to build stylish, earthquake-resistant homes for sale within Japan.  The Toyota Homes unit accounts for only .5% of the company's $262 billion in annual sales, and Toyota would like to beef that up a little bit.  Plus, with the roll-out of the plug-in hybrid beginning in 2010 (remember all that discussion here about solar homes and plug-in hybrids replacing gas stations?), Toyota would like to do more with their environmentally-friendly, prefabricated homes. 

Zamore Homes Focuses on Stylish, Green Kit Homes

I've been noticing some chatter about Zamore Homes, an online company that provides ready-to-assemble kit-homes that are built with off-the-shelf components.  Zamore Homes is looking to capture the market that wants high design at a low price.  They do that by flat-packing and shipping components to a home site, all of which seem to come from various different places with the lowest possible transportation costs.  They also claim to provide simple instructions for contractors to put all the components together.  With simple designs and flat-packed parts, Zamore Homes estimates that their affordable, energy-efficient kit homes can be put together in under 20 weeks!

[Video] Venice Green Prefab Built Module At A Time

[3:03] Pardon the pre-roll on the video below, but the LA Times has some excellent interior / exterior footage of a Marmol Radziner Prefab being constructed in Venice, California.  As you can see, it was put together module-by-module with much of the interior already in place.  Regularly featured on the MR Blog, this house appears to be for Leo Marmol himself and has been referred to as the "Palms House."  The Palms House is 2800 square feet, made with 13 modules, and includes 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a living room/dining room, kitchen, office, and a spacious deck/outdoor area.

It's fun watching the video, because you can see Ron Radziner's enthusiasm bubble inside as he explains one of his company's newest creations.  These guys are having fun, you can just tell. 

Flickr LVL Home With Subtle Flashes of Red

As always, I'm amazed by what can be found on Flickr.  Just within the last couple weeks, someone posted photos of their friend's LVL home by Rocio Romero.  It's quite nice both inside and out.  But we've talked about Rocio Romero prefabs before, including this Napa LV Home and this Arkansas LVL Home, and what's interesting is: how they're customized.  Every Rocio Romero home starts with a primary focus on quality, sustainability, and design -- from there, owners tend to add their own personality to the inside and out. 

The Landscape House Illustrates Smart Green Design

This is The Landscape House, a concept designed by Maul Dwellings that won the AIA's 2006 Committee on Design competition to design "A House for an Ecologist."  Although the concept was originally planned as field residence for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it's also an example of the smart integration of design, technology, and sustainability.  The Landscape House features a double roof to enhance natural air circulation, operable louvered shutters that harvest energy, a Water Pod that houses all the efficient plumbing systems, and a solar dehumidifier unit that captures moisture from the air to produce distilled drinking water. 

Santa Barbara Green Prefab on Display this Saturday!

Starting at 10:00 am this Saturday, June 14, a custom-made Sunset Breezehouse designed by MKD will be open to the public in Santa Barbara, California.  The open house will happen in conjunction with the Built Green Santa Barbara Expo, Conference, & Tour, but if you're not able to attend, Michelle Kaufmann has been posting photos and details of the home for the past couple weeks.  The home, in addition to having all the various green materials and products typically used in MKD homes, has a PV solar array and sustainable landscape design that fits the home just perfectly.