I’ve seen a ton of interest in these panel-built structures by Sett Studio, so I thought it’d be appropriate to share a short video for your viewing pleasure.  In the video, these Austin-based builders share details of the construction, materials, and installation of a typical Sett Studio.  Mike Speciale of Sett Studio also talks about why they use SIP construction and how they’ve tweaked shou-sugi-ban to treat their siding.  For the pretty photos, check the original Sett and the twin Setts.

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These days, it seems everyone has a hammer and access to plans from Tumbleweed Tiny House, so it may not be all that noteworthy to mention another tiny house build.  But, if you’re willing, let me alert you to this project nearing completion in the next month or so.  The tiny house is being built by Christopher Smith, who bought five acres in Colorado and aims to plant roots with a structure built from scratch.

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This is a new “origami”-like home assembled earlier this year in Healdsburg, California, home to the H2 Hotel. The green prefab was designed, built, and assembled by Blu Homes and is the first re-designed Breezehouse on the West Coast (a home first made famous by Michelle Kaufmann). This video includes an interview with the owners, Steve and Jo Cooper, who share their reasons for purchasing the prefab.

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I’m fascinated by the work of Netherlands-based Dave Hakkens in a recent project called “Rubble Floor.”  Interested in reusing old building materials as new building materials — and inspired by terrazzo floors — Hakkens conducted several tests on materials such as roof tiles, bricks, nails and screws, and glass.  He used concrete as the binder and crushed old materials into pigments and fillers.  In the end, Hakkens found it’s entirely possible to make new materials with the old.

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For your Friday viewing, check out what California architects Karl Wanaselja and Cate Leger used to make a backyard office.  They split a 40-foot, refrigerated shipping container and placed the two parts in a T shape with a crane.  Then they cut windows into the ends and covered the floor with soy-based, formaldehyde-free Purebond.  And the container only set them back $1800.

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This video showcases the pH Living Sanctuary, a factory-built home in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.  The healthy home has been certified by Building Biologists to the IBE Healthy Home Standard, according to California-based pH Living, and has been checked for VOCs, energy efficiency, formaldehyde, mold, electromagnetic fields (EMF’s), communications frequency pollution reductions, and radiation.

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