The Wired Home Goes Green: First Pix of Loblolly House
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 2.07
"Green Architecture is now sleek, sharp and nearly invisible" says the title of the feature section in the January Wired. They have selected seven green projects that are heavy on the technology, and range from the wired through expired. It starts with the first pictures we have seen of Kieran Timberlake's Loblolly House, which we have been excited about for two years. (see earlier post) It looks like a Borg Cube, has almost as much technology, and is as completely alien to construction as we know it. Kieran and Timberlake "realized that architecture needed the equivalent of an integrated circuit. They began to combine glass, drywall, pipe and and wood frames into finished units, each precision-engineered for cost, beauty, and sustainability." Watch for more about this house, which we think will be one of the most important of this decade. "Its not a house, but a new production process for architecture" ::Wired but not online yet.
From Architectural Record:
KTA’s Loblolly departs most wholly from past prefab models through its innovative component-based design, in which KTA minimized the number of parts. “We want materials we can take apart like used auto parts, as opposed to ending up with rubble,” Kieran says. Unlike many houses, even those built with sustainability in mind, Loblolly’s components, or elements, as the architects call them, could be unbolted and reconfigured at another site for a different house or, as the architects like to demonstrate in their public lectures, sold off in pieces on eBay....KTA set about early in the process creating a supply chain of materials and products that could feed the assembly line of elements that would constitute the house. Timberlake considers this the most difficult aspect of the firm’s attempt at true prefabrication because, he notes, the “construction industry is so fragmented, with no control of the supply chain and new suppliers starting up every day.”
The architects divided the chain between three tiers of suppliers and a final assembler, much in the way automotive companies outsource major components of each car with final assembly at factories throughout the world. In the case of the Loblolly House, Bensonwood—a New Hampshire–based timber-frame-house company—acted as both a supplier and the final assembler. Bensonwood recently completed a quasi-prefab house as part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Open Prototype Initiative, which streamlines a design-build approach for high-quality custom houses with quick construction schedules. Bensonwood, as well as a construction manager, Arena Program Management, collaborated with KTA to devise the specifics of the supply chain for Loblolly.
more at ::Architectural Record
Are there efforts to standardise site planning and foundations to accommodate such houses? For example, if a single woman wants to purchase land and build a house that makes sense for just her, she could begin with the "base" house. Later, if she has a family, she'll add on rooms to accommodate. Then she might decide to change the set-up to add a studio for a home business. After the children leave and she and her husband retire, they might sell off unneeded (but still valuable) parts of the house. How would the foundations be arranged for such expandability?
If a relative will be visiting for some lengthy period (a nephew staying whilst in university) could one rent an apartment unit to add on for four years from a local housing co-op? There have to be many opportunities on that end.
I like the idea of a house that can be disassembled and re-configured like that (from both the initial investment stage and the continued of the house and components). What will banks and lenders say about this? Would it alter the traditional lending structure? How would one report taxes and equity if the house was repurposed two or three times a year?
Wow!! I mentioned this project in my graduation thesys. At the time - last April - I found no more than a few drawings in Kieran Timberlake's site. It's truly amazing and even emotional to see now this picture of the built project. I loved it instantly when I saw the drawings, and now even more!
hey Gracinda you mentioned you saw some drawings of this house? i'm a ball state architecture student and i am trying to build both a digital and physical model of the loblolly house. could you post those images to flickr or post them as comments.
ben herring
Ben,
I am also doing a precedent study on loblolly house. I have contacted the architects but have not recieved a response. Any luck on finding drawings?
-Chase