Here’s a quick update on the status of Alley House 2, which we discussed in August this year. Developed by Cascade Built, the modular prefab home was designed by David Foster Architects and assembled by Method Homes with an aim for LEED Platinum certification. The modules dropped this month, and the home should be ready for occupancy in about January 2012.
Method Homes, a Seattle-based manufacturer of green prefab homes, recently introduced two new home lines, the Option Series and Elemental Series. The former was created in collaboration with Seattle-based Grouparchitect and the latter was created in collaboration with Seattle-based PB Elemental. Both lines offer flexibility in the form of multiple configurations and can be built from the $130s per square foot.
zHome is a contemporary, new, townhome development in Issaquah, Washington. The homes go on sale this month and have received national attention, such as in the video embedded below with the Wall Street Journal. Homes in this community will use zero net energy — after considering all energy used and produced during a year — and zHome may just be the first townhome project in the country to achieve such a feat.
King County in Washington has about 26,000 acres of parks and open spaces with trails, trees, and streams. To help people stay overnight in these areas, the county held a design competition — Little Footprint, Big Forest — to create an overnight structure from a surplus, reclaimed, 20-foot shipping container. The winning design was just announced and it comes from none other than HyBrid Architecture, the firm behind the cargo container-based Sunset Idea House 2011.
Cascade Built just announced a new single-family home in the Madison Valley neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. “Alley House 2″ was designed by Seattle-based David Foster Architects and is currently under construction by Method Homes in an off-site factory. The project team is seeking LEED Platinum certification with completion set for about October 2011.
This is The Sentinel, a home that went through an efficiency renovation in Seattle. The work was performed by Seattle-based Green Canopy Homes which takes existing homes in walkable neighborhoods and transforms them with high-performance upgrades and a touch of community design. They all carry an Energy Performance Score and Built Green certification, and many of them have some geeky features like real-time energy monitoring, a digital homeowner’s manual, and on-site solar power.
