The house, a project of Santa Monica-based LivingHomes, is a custom-built, prefabricated home, designed to LEED Platinum standards. When completed — in about seven hours — it will use almost no energy and produce zero carbon emissions, said Alan Hotchkiss, a junior designer with the firm.

The house is being built as the centerpiece of a Prefab Showcase planned for Palm Springs Modernism Week.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green rating system for buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. Platinum is the highest LEED rating a building can achieve.

The three main components of the three-bedroom house are being assembled on a vacant lot on North Palm Canyon, north of Alejo Road. Furniture and other interior design items will follow, but the house itself will be completed by about 2 p.m. and is already drawing curious looks and comments from passers-by.

“It’s got interesting design,” said Michael Napoli of Palm Springs. “I like the notion of a sustainable house.”

Read Full Story >

Publication: MyDesert.com
Author:  K. Kaufmann, The Desert Sun

PrefabHQ. Describe the characteristics you are seeing in the typical prefab buyer right now? What are the things that are driving them to explore prefab and what do you think is ultimately convincing them to go prefab?
M.M.  Our customers come from a really broad range of backgrounds—from young families to empty nesters looking to downsize. But they all have a few things in common, including their concern about reducing monthly operating costs and their desire for a simpler process with controlled costs. Many of our customers have built new homes the traditional way before and prefer not to do it that way again.

Our clients also care about beautiful design and our leading environmental performance. They want to live in healthy and beautiful spaces with high indoor air quality. An added benefit to all those green design features: Blu homes offer at least 50%+ energy savings over comparably-sized existing homes.

And finally, the housing and larger economic crisis made people reevaluate their priorities and choices. Excess—as seen in the McMansions of the bubble—doesn’t feel right any more. There is a desire for smart living instead of big living. Skyrocketing gas prices have motivated people to look for more efficient ways to heat their homes.

PrefabHQ.  What do you feel is the greatest obstacle to overcome with potential prefab buyers?
M.M.  See answer re. economy below.

PrefabHQ. What has been the biggest challenge the company has faced?
 M.M.  As everyone connected to the U.S. housing industry knows, the recession has not been kind to new homebuilders. However, Blu was started in 2008 during the recession and we have had strong sales growth in every year since then. We believe our eco-friendly, space-efficient homes are the bright green spot in the industry and we intend to play a significant role in leading the recovery in the housing market.

PrefabHQ. What do you believe is the biggest misunderstanding potential buyers have about prefab?
M.M.  The prospective homebuyers who come to us are already fairly well educated on the benefits of modern prefab. That being said, especially outside of the West Coast, where the modern prefab movement was born, we have definitely had to educate people who still equate “prefab” with trailer homes. We almost always refer to the way we build as “precision building,” since we find our customers are more interested in the strength and efficiency of the way we build in our state-of-the-art factory than any architectural trend.

PrefabHQ. What would you recommend in terms of process for someone considering a prefab home? Where should they look for information, what questions should they be asking?
M.M.  We have a five-step process to building your home and a dedicated sales rep that walks you through the entire experience. After choosing the right parcel of land and obtaining financing you’ll choose your home from one of our seven designs. Then its time to customize your home for free online and in 3-D with Blu’s proprietary Configurator™, which allows users to style, visualize and spend time in their own Blu home. After selecting from a wide variety of designs, floor plans, interior design ‘palettes’ and appliance packages, homebuyers are able to visualize their new home in real time—all from the comfort of their home or office. Blu then builds each home with precision tooling and trained craftsman in its climate-controlled factory to meet the highest quality construction standards.

After leaving its state-of-the-art 250K square foot factory in Vallejo, CA, Blu’s homes are installed on-site in one day and completed in just two weeks by Blu’s teams of craftsmen. This speed and convenience is a result of Blu’s proprietary building science technology, which allows its homes to be folded for quick and cost-effective setting on site. All of this is done at a pre-agreed, fixed cost.

We encourage our customers to ask questions throughout the process. You can find some key questions we think it’s important to be asking in our FAQs online:

http://www.bluhomes.com/category/frequently-asked-questions/

A few key questions are listed here:

What should I look for in a home site?

What is included in the price and is it fixed?

Who will be managing the construction process?

How quickly can my home be built?

What is the construction “time on site” vs. time in the factory?

How do I finance my home?

How much can I personalize the home?

What green certifications do you have?

PrefabHQ. What do you feel is the single most compelling reason a buyer should go with a prefab home?
M.M.  For us, it’s not about going with a prefab home or not. It’s about giving American homebuyers the opportunity to build a home at a fixed cost, personalize it for free online, and then enjoy a bright, beautiful home that’s as healthy inside as it is for the planet and strong enough to endure the harshest elements for generations.

PrefabHQ. And your market is clearly those who are looking to live in a green home. Is this your No. 1 selling point?
M.M.  The green quality of our homes is a definite attraction for our buyers – that includes both energy-efficiency, as well as eco-friendly building materials and finishes. We also offer transparent pricing and a predictable construction schedule. That is something that is nearly impossible for site-built homes, as they are at the whim of weather conditions and coordinating schedules of sub-contractors.

See the full rankings below:

1. District of Columbia – 31.50 sq. ft. per capita
2. Colorado – 2.74
3. Illinois – 2.69
4. Virginia – 2.42
5. Washington – 2.18
6. Maryland – 2.07
7. Massachusetts – 2.00
8. Texas – 1.99
9. California – 1.92
10. New York – 1.89
11. Minnesota – 1.81

The metrics: Our list is based on official U.S. Census data from 2010, and square footage totals were crunched by our LEED Operations team.

Why per capita? Buildings are for people, so by looking at the hard data with the population they serve in mind creates a snapshot of the states that excelertate their portfolio of LEED-certified places to work, play, learn, live, heal, etc. in 2011.

Why did we include 11 entries in the top 10 list? Since D.C. is a federal district and not a state, we wanted to cover all the bases and make sure we included 10 states, but also underscore the District’s leadership in green building.   Read Full Story >

Author: Ashley Katz – Media Manager / U.S. Green Building Council
Publisher: The Builder Buzz

By design, the LV Series comes with a sleek shell and a completely raw interior, meaning it ships without cabinetry, inside walls (except for one structural wall between a bedroom and the living room), or heating and cooling. The intent is to offer an inexpensive, flexible framework, which appealed to Higgins.  Read Full Story >

Publication:  Boston Magazine
Author:  Jennifer Blaise Kramer

Congrats to Blu Homes on the opening of their new West Coast factory!

This video is a couple years old, but provides a nice basic overview of Prefab.

With 220m2 on it size, the house was built with the right compromise on location. North Uist itself, is the tenth largest Scottish island and the largest island Thirteenth Surrounding Great Britain. With its location in the form of islands, featuring beautiful scenery that can be viewed through large windows installed in the living room. By their character in works, the architect built this house with crisp and contemporary approach; however it is always grounded by an understanding of history and a respect for the environment.  Read Full Story >

The Ikea of housing, the prefab has an amazing history, beginning here in Australia when English emigrants were given building kits in the 1830s in an attempt to help them settle effortlessly in this sunburnt country. But as the book shows, today’s prefab houses can be found all over the world in all shapes and sizes. Some resemble alien spaceships and A-frame country cottages, while others are simple boxes perched on Swiss hillsides. Whatever their style, these houses are an old favourite for their ease and newfound style.

Arnt Cobbers and Oliver Jahn, (Taschen, 2010), pp 388, rrp $130.00.

Publication:  ARCHITECTUREAU

While all about landscape and greenery, BioMIlano is also about urbanist revitalization and putting a stop to sprawl. The key philosophy seems to be taking advantage of creative opportunities to green the urban core while also developing a greenbelt around the city. Boeri explains on the project’s website:

“Milan, like every city in the world, today, is at a crossroads. It can continue growing by eating up agricultural land, woods, natural space, and thus reducing biodiversity and the space available to other species.  Read Full Story >

Publication:  National Resources Defense Council Blog
Article by: Kaid Benfield, Natural Resources Defense Council