takehome: affordable modernist prefab
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.10.05
We love Jennifer Siegel's work and have covered it before; She keeps surprising us with new and wonderful things. Last week at Prefab Now we learned about her new Takehome series of modernist prefabs. They are very attractive and well designed, but we suspect an ulterior motive- they appear to comply with the HUD code dimensions and construction so that they can travel on the road cheaply and go into trailer parks. Prefab is great but well designed, affordable HUD code trailers- that is rare and will be very big- finally, good modern design will be available to people who cannot afford million dollar real estate. The green sustainable modernist prefab trailer park is coming and Jennifer is clearly getting ready. ::takehome
"Take Home costs are still being finalized, but are expected to start around $160/sf."
That's $135,000 for the 840sf single bedroom, and $460,000 for the 2880sf four bedroom. Without land. An example of 'finished costs at $215/sf' is given. Not very cheap in my estimation---actually right on par with ordinary, wasteful, built-on-site construction--the sort that codes and ordinances are already written to favor. The promise of prefab is to do better than what's happening now, and it won't be picked up seriously until costs are competitive.
"finally, good modern design will be available to people who cannot afford million dollar real estate"
I agree with Szarka, and I'd also like to point out the comment you made that I've quoted above. I love Treehugger, and check it out for news bits when I can. But, seeing comments like this, and then seeing the reality when I dig deeper, is a little distressing. If you think $160+/sf is affordable, I'm going to have to make sure I dig deeper into commentary on stories here more often.
I know, I know - this may seem nit-picky. But, in a World that is very skeptical about 'Green' claims, it does damage if people are passing on green information without doing homework to dispell the naysayers.
Example: I say "Hey, I saw something about well designed, green, prefab homes that are truly affordable!"
Skeptical friend, "Oh cool! (then checks it out) Yeah, real affordable - just more greenwashing."
Am I totally off-base here?