iPAD by Andre Hodgskin
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12.27.07
Anyone watching modern prefab at the turn of the century will remember Andre Hodgskin's stunning Bachkit, with its cantilevered roof, open corners and sliding walls. (and an early un-navigable flash website) I was working with a prefab builder at the time and was asked to look at the plans; the complexity and the tolerances required to make the sliders work scared me away. However it remains perhaps the most beautiful modern prefab attempted. (photos here)
Now Hodgskin is back with the more modest iPAD (does Steve Jobs know about this?) still with open corners (do they not have mosquitoes in New Zealand?) and a cantilevered roof with no visible means of support (do they not have wind and earthquake loads?)
Well, not completely without visible means of support, the screened fins at the four corners appear to be doing the heavy lifting and stabilizing.
As with the original Bachkit, the plans are elegant and simple, and depend on a perfect climate without bugs or temperature extremes, using decks for circulation. (and what about privacy for those bedrooms?)
I found the interior shots a little bland, but that may just be the angle and the generic furniture.
The website calls it "a fresh look at the concept of a simple but stylish lightweight kitset building.The iPAD™ is a true kitset bach designed to cover a range of options; it could be a one bedroom holiday home, secondary dwelling, granny flat, office, studio or resort unit to name but a few. It can be grouped as a series of pavilions to form larger accommodation if required."
"A single iPAD™ totals 50m sq with decks of 55m sq and will retail in New Zealand for $125,000.00*. Various external cladding and colour options are available to suit individual taste and context. Of particular note is that the iPAD™ can be either manufactured off-site and easily transported to its final destination, or shipped as a kitset and erected on site by a licensed contractor."
The price does not seem unreasonable, and it definitely seems less intimidating to build than the bachkit was, although I still worry about tolerances and remain perplexed about how a building can sit on numerous pad foundations without a millimeter of settlement, which is all that is needed to jam those sliding walls. But then along with perfect weather I suppose New Zealand comes with perfect soil and perfect craftspeople to build on it.::iPAD via ::Materialicious and ::Shedworking
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Who cares about Steve Jobs? Apple isn't the only company who can call things with the "i" moniker.
Wish people would get that in their heads.
Love the iPAD.
New Zealand has mosquito's an certain areas. Here in Christchurch in the South Island, I have not encountered any. In the North Island they're everywhere.
There was a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in New Zealand last week causing severe structural damage, and NZ encounters more powerful wind flux than most other onshore regions in the world, so yes we have wind and seismic loading.
We do also have incredible engineers.
THE IPAD IS EXACTLY THE WAY I WOULD LIKE TO GO FOR THE FUTURE. IT CAN POSIBBLY WORK OUT FOR PLACES OTHER THAN, NEW ZEALAND AS WELL.
BRILLIANT LAY OUT SIMPLICITY IS THE KEY IN MOST CASES.
ITS GOT MY VOTE.
IPAD