Prefab Eichler-inspired home.
This post is in response to hagbard72 (attached below) and anyone else looking for prefab Eichler-inspired homes. The San Jose Mercury News ran an article at the end of May about a prefab home by architect Michelle Kaufmann. The house was constructed on site in the Menlo Park Sunset property (as in Sunset magazine). She calls the house a "Glidehouse".
The article says the cost of the Glidehouse can be less than 1/2 that of a traditional home. "A 952 sq ft one runs about $115,000, depending on options, but does not include land, utilities, or foundation."
The Mercury News article (no pictures) can be found for a short time at:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/living/home/8721101.htm
You can see pictures of the Glidehouse constructed at Sunset Gardens under the May 15 announcement (right hand column) at:
http://www.fabprefab.com
There's also a reference to a Seattle construction company who does/will build the glidehouse in their area. Might give people an idea of what would be involved.
http://www.fastbuilding.com
I thought it was pretty novel. I'd be interested in what the designers and architects in our midst think.
Jake
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hagbard72
Joined: 30 May 2004
Posts: 1
Posted: Sun May 30, 2004 8:09 pm Post subject:
Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread.
My wife and I have been looking to build a "new" Eichler for a couple years now (I mentioned it here back then). Our problem has been finding an architect or house designer that is familiar with Eichlers, let alone any modernist design in our city (Victoria, BC).
We even have a lot picked out, located on the edge of a "mountain", with incredible views of the ocean, Olympic mountains and surrounding hills. We still don't even have any idea of what it would cost to build such a house in this market (can't go much beyond $130sf cdn). Unrealistic?
The Glide House is hardly "Eichler-like".
While Michelle Kaufmann's motivation was based on mid-century modern architecture, her designs share little resemblance of an Eichler, other than single story, glass walls, shed roof, open plan.
It's a nice house, just check your local zoning regarding modular construction. Since no homes have actually sited and built, I would be weary of any pricing mentioned so far.
Yes, mis-cue in my title (now corrected).
The body of my post, however, said "Eichler-inspired" which is more accurate. There does seem to be the thought of "affordable architecture for the masses" and "blur the inside/outside" reminiscent of Eichler's philosphies.
But, no, not true post-and-beam or radiant heat (note S. Cal Eichlers don't all have radiant heat either) or ... Still, I'm heartened when I see an architect trying to make modern design more affordable and accessible.
Jake
What kind of hot water system does it have-I saw the pics of the 'utility cabinet' and I didn't see a water heater. Also from that pic it looks like an upflow hvac system (vents in the ceiling area) but in the interior pics I see no heater vents-are they in the floor or ceiling and perhaps in the 'shelf' above the storage area. Overall I think this is a great start altho the plans are nothing I would like as yet, but I am sure that there will be others in the future both by the folks involved in this project and by others.
I used to work for a manufactured housing company back in the mid 70's (ok I'll mention names-Silvercrest-nee Western Housing-the plant is in Corona Ca.) they were so conservative and somewhat still so as most of the companies in this industry-basically building copies of what every one else builds-let's hope that some of these companies will start thinking outta the box like this project-interesting to note that it is a CANADIAN company that's taking the leadership on this-I don't see any of the US based companies (Golden West, Silvercrest or Fleetwood Industries et al) doing any of this that I am aware of. When they came close to it-it was usually a one-off that a customer requested and had the bucks, but they still lost money on it.
Also see:
glidehouse.com
I believe her own Glidehouse in Novato is complete.
I visited the Sunset installation and its impressive!
I believe Michelle is going to be speaking at Design Within Reach in Palo Alto next Thursday, Jun 10th. Contact DWR to get on the list (and to confirm)
- J
Michelle is going to be speaking at the Palo Alto DWR Studio. If you are interested in attending please follow the link to RSVP.
Thanks
Chris
