This tiny prefab home is an experiment in all things efficient. The E.D.G.E., designed and built by by Bill Yudchitz and Revelations Architects/Builders Corp. in Wisconsin, stands for an Experimental Dwelling for a Greener Environment, and recently won a design award from the American Institute of Architects-Wisconsin.
Several details of this design make it unique to other prefab designs. The “kinetic facade” rain screen, which consists of tall louvered panels, can be closed over the passive solar windows to insulate the interior and protect the E.D.G.E. when unoccupied. It contains two lofts with full staircases, and the furniture is custom made for the house and is multi-functional. In fact, the dining room furniture transforms into a bed.
The house also features rainwater harvesting, geothermal heating and cooling, air to air heat recovery ventilation, a butterfly roof that minimizes solar gain, triple insulated glass, and a thermal radiant floor heating system. Locally grown white oak is used for the rain screen and CNC cut Baltic birch plywood is used in the interior of the home.
The house is 320 square feet, which does not include the floor area of the upper sleeping lofts, and costs between $60,000 and $150,000.
An overnight experience in the E.D.G.E was written about by Mary Louise Schumacher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and she documented her stay in the tiny house with a video. She answered more questions in an additional post.
Photos by Dan Hoffman. Courtesy of Revelations Architects/Builders Corp.
By