Pre-fab - Part 3

dwelle dwelle.ings

These tiny prefab homes, originally created as “sheds for living” by architect, Richard Frankland, have morphed into the company dwelle. Their tiny houses are called dwelle.ings. Right now they are only for sale in the UK, but with the world’s response to the current economic climate, that may change.

This range of carefully designed micro buildings are highly sustainable, quick to erect and adaptable to many landscapes. The intent for each building is to be completely off-grid with additional costs added to incorporate renewable energy systems.

Backyard Box

by Christina Nellemann

These small, well-designed little backyard houses are actually much better looking and more detail oriented than a basic box, without forsaking the modern, prefab style. Backyard Box, a company based in Seattle, designs and builds small prefab houses that can be used in many ways: as a rental income property, guest house, home office, mother-in-law apartment or a tiny house.

The smallest design is the MatchBox, a studio that packs a kitchen, living room and bath into 400 square feet. It can fit into a lot that is 17 by 27 feet and starts at $79,500. A larger design is the SandBox, a one story backyard cottage with kitchen, living room, bathroom and one bedroom. It is 600 square feet and is designed for simple and minimalist living on one level, and will fit on most city lots at just 17 by 37 feet. The SandBox starts at $86,500. Each of these houses are custom architect-designed and you can choose from three finish levels.

Greenbox

by Kent Griswold

Derek Metson of Greenbox Designs, LLC located in Clackamas, Oregon let me know about their product which design I think could fit into the tiny house market.

Derek says that the Greenbox is the solution to a homeowner’s expanding needs, extending living, working or storage space outside your existing confines. Produced with sustainable, regional materials, Greenbox is a viable, quick and economical way of expanding your environment. A Greenbox unit can readily be assembled in one day.

Each unit is customizable to suit a home owners needs and comes in several different sizes.

Plumbing, electrical or HVAC can be customized.
Windows are available in over 25 pre-finished colors.
Low VOC paints are available in over a thousand colors.
Color matching with paints or stains is available to match your existing residence.
Read more

Tiny Prefab Units Promote Eco-friendly Building

by Kent Griswold

Tammy from Rowdy Kittens alerted me to a local article about some prefab units being built for parking lots in Berkley and San Francisco. Following is a couple of paragraphs from the article and you can read the complete article at SFGate.

A young San Francisco company that makes prefabricated housing is set to provide multifamily buildings for two urban Bay Area projects that its development partner hopes will become a model for eco-friendly construction.

Zeta Communities will construct the housing for the 22-unit developments, planned for parking lots in Berkeley and San Francisco. The projects will feature tiny living spaces – 310- to 340 square-foot studios – and no parking. Instead, they will include a car-sharing space.

The proposed four-story projects are the first foray into prefabricated housing for East Bay developer Patrick Kennedy of Panoramic Interests.

Allwin Prefab Summer Cottage

by Christina Nellemann

I saw this deep blue prefab summer house on a website called Allwin, a Chinese company that develops, designs and manufactures prefabricated buildings.

Their CH23 mobile house unit is a 20 foot-container made of light steel. The house includes one bedroom, one bathroom and an open kitchen. The total area is 15 meters square. It’s suitable for any climate and location.

There is modern styling in the bathroom and kitchen and the windows and doors allow for ample sunshine and beautiful panoramic views.

Allwin really offers a huge selection of prefab housing ranging from small summer houses and tea houses to hotels and apartment buildings. They even have a mobile cottage that looks surprisingly like the Lodge on Wheels. Their website is a little difficult to wade through for English speakers and their information is lacking, but some of their designs are eye-catching. You can contact them directly on their website for design and shipping questions.

Allwin was established in 1997 and feels it is their duty to create ecological construction and high quality buildings.Their products are prefabricated in local factories and the design can be individualized and made to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes or other disasters.

House Plans Flexa Studio

by Kent Griswold

Dan Gregory from HousePlans.com contacted me the other day to let me know about their new Flexa Studio, a modern, versatile, 120 square-foot prefabricated room. “It’s a way to add space without the expense and disruption of remodeling,” he says.

Award-winning designer Casper Mork-Ulnes, who holds a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and is creative director of Modern Cabana, developed Flexa Studio in collaboration with Houseplans.com.

The 10- by 12-foot structure comes pre-assembled or as a panelized kit-of-parts that you put together yourself. In both cases you build the foundation, then bolt the Flexa Studio to it.

The Flexa Studio has a simple shed-roof and crisp horizontal rain-screen siding — with glass entry door and fixed and operable side windows — give the structure a handsome contemporary presence to complement any garden setting. Place it in the backyard or side yard, to use as a home office, media room, or teen pad: or add a sleeper and turn it into an overflow guest room, or as many of us tiny house enthusiast would consider great for a retreat or tiny house somewhere.

Curved by Design

by Christina Nellemann

If your dream home still takes on the shape of a mushroom or a Hobbit house, maybe one of these dome homes by Curved by Design will fit your bill. Curved By Design, Inc. is based in British Columbia, Canada and they design and build small garden or backyard domes, cottages and guest houses for recreational and tourist properties.

Their smallest design is the Garden/Backyard Dome which is approximately 12 feet in diameter, provides 100 square feet of floor space and can be built on a small stem wall to provide additional height. The advantage of this size dome is that it falls under building permit requirements and yet provides a spacious and calm ambience. Curved by Design also features two small designs: the 24 Foot Open Plan dome which is ideal as a relaxing yoga studio, a spacious conference room, or a guest house and the 24 Foot One Bedroom dome which can accomodate one spacious bedroom, a full bath and kitchen, a cozy living room and plenty of storage.

Cabin Fever

by Christina Nellemann

Clean, green and eye-catching. For fans of prefab tiny houses, these three words describe the beautiful designs of Cabin Fever, based in Irvine, California and Miami, Florida. Their prefab designs encompass everything that you need in a tiny house including green design, customization, various size options and simple but elegant details. The prices are not bad either.

The Cabin Fever cabins are built in the factory, then disassembled, packed and shipped to the customer, to be reassembled on-site. This process (along with the permit process) can take about five months. Their cabin packages contain pre-built wall sections, an engineered roof and precision cut components. All hardware, nuts and bolts, screws and nails, and a full set of engineered architectural drawings are included. Depending on local soil conditions, codes and site grade, cabins can be built on a concrete slab or a wood timber foundation system.

International Dome Houses

by Christina Nellemann

The Japanese know a thing or two about living in small spaces. Additionally, Japanese designers and architects also have to know a thing or two about how to design homes for a country with high land prices, strict building codes and numerous earthquakes. These futuristic prefab houses from the International Dome House Company are built from segmented slices made of expanded polystyrene that claim to be superior to wood, iron and concrete.

Japanese Dome House Website

The company is located in Japan, but the dome segments are made in their factory in South Korea. Several small “villages” of various sizes of the dome houses have been built in Japan, where the design has been approved by the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transport. This building system can also be adapted for small businesses, storage areas or bathhouses.

weeHouse Studio for Sale

by Christina Nellemann

Fans of Alchemy Architects and the weeHouse now have a chance to purchase the weeHouse studio that was used as the Saturn Sky convertible touring companion. The cost for the original house was $65,000, but Alchemy is offering the studio as is for $48,000.

Download the sales PDF here.

The 27×12 foot weeHouse was an integral part of the Saturn marketing campaign linking high-end cutting edge design with their automobile. The weeHouse shipped 100% complete, and features a special steel frame with forklift pockets and removable casters to allow the house to be easily handled by hand or forklift on standard flatbed trucks, thus significantly reducing shipping costs.

Lakefront Log Cabins

by Christina Nellemann

Now is the perfect time of year to curl up next to a woodstove in a tiny lakeside cabin. Lakefront Log Cabins, located in beautiful Lake Tahoe, offers customized precut cabin kits in several different sizes ranging from 12×16 feet to 18×32 feet. These cabins have been built for weekend getaways, hunting cabins and primary residences.

Lakefront has sent their cabin kits all over the country including Alaska. They are also working with customers in Canada and Panama. Each standard cabin kit is created from fresh milled logs and then precut by Amish craftsmen in Kentucky.

The P-POD

by Christina Nellemann

With a nod to Eastern style and philosophy, and an eye on ecologically sound and environmentally sensitive design, Tim Cornell of Polehouses.com has created a tiny house kit that is appropriate for any climate and location. The 576 square foot P-Pod is climatically appropriate, durable and recyclable.

Tim explained that the P-POD housing is a “building system” more than simply a specific house design. His system is a uniquely engineered “kit of parts” and space frame grids, that can be adapted quickly for any and all housing regimes, programs, and designs desired. P-POD units can be stacked 2 or 3 tall, or spread out in any configuration such as townhouses, duplexes, apartment buildings, etc.