Modern Homes New England

Big house in the country? Or smaller cottage in a quiet community?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/can-a-big-house-in-the-country-be-green.php

Forbes Park in Chelsea, MA has received coverage on Inhabitat:

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/08/18/forbes-park-by-urban-design-and-redevelopment/

Bob Swinburne, an architect in Brattleboro, VT, has a great blog chronicling his personal and professional viewpoints.

http://swinburnearchitect.com/wordpress/

In Roslindale, MA. From Boston.com.

The article from Metropolis that I previously mentioned is now available online. From the article:

Because Zamore’s local shipping model is entirely different from that of prefab homes, he estimates that it will save thousands of dollars in warehousing, fuel, and delivery charges. “As the price of energy goes up, I’ve watched companies putting these modules on trucks and sending them over long distances,” he says. “I’m not doing that. The home site becomes the factory. Instead, I’m just selling information.” Rocio Romero, who makes site-built homes but ships the components from one factory in Missouri, finds what Zamore is doing timely. “I deliver from the factory in parts, and keep my homes on one flatbed truck to keep costs down,” she says. “But the cost of fuel has gone up 50 percent in the past three years, so I’m literally charging customers thousands of dollars more for each home.”

I really think this is a great model and provides some awesome options. I’ve been staring at floorplans at ZamoreHomes.com for weeks now. I’m currently eying the larger three-floor model, which is a really smart layout. Room for a dedicated home office on the ground floor, shared only with the garage. Living space and true master suite on the second floor. Kids’ bedroom up under the eaves.

Read the article at Metropolis.

I’m actually posting this because the previous post seemed to have triggered a slew of undesirable ads to show up. Let’s steer this conversation back on course.

I want to see this site become something, and soon. If you’re a professional (architect) or knowledgeable DIYer, come write with us. Share stories, ideas, links to trends or interesting projects. We’ve got revenue-sharing ideas in the works and would happily link any author’s bio back to their own professional or personal site.

If we get a couple of writers on board we’ll pull together a worthy site design.

What we’re looking for:

Little guys. Young or independent architects. People shaping the future through projects they’re passionate about. It doesn’t have to be modern design, but should have a modern component: Design, sustainability, green, prefab. It should be residential. It should be accessible (financially) or insanely inspirational if not. It should make sense for the greater region (Maine down to CT and over to Eastern NYS).

If you’re interested, email modernhomesnewengland @ gmail. We’ve been building solid traffic and own some key search terms on Google.

- Mark

Lots and lots of pictures of FlatPak homes including one in Catskills, NY.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flatpakhouse/

via Inhabitat.

Cite gas prices cutting into budgets, home energy prices, or just higher consciousness regarding sustainability, less architectural firms are reporting increasing home sizes now. Of course, it might just be that less firms are reporting any homes in this market climate. Still an interesting study, via Treehugger:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/aia-quarterly-report.php

I will say, in looking at the Zamore Homes, that I’d really prefer the 1300 sq ft home (06) over the 2000 sq ft model (03). I’m just not entirely sold on the reverse layout. While I think it’s a good idea to put childrens’ bedrooms downstairs, the layout could do a little better on a master suite and still maintain its modest footprint.

And any property design for me would include a detached home office as a separate structure. Perhaps an LVM or PowerPod.

Is the McMansion era coming to an abrupt close? Are you thinking smaller or bigger for your dream home?

I read about the Zamore Homes project last night in the new issue of Metropolis. It’s a twist on the prefab approach, using local materials and distribution centers. I’ll post more on that when the article’s available to link to. For now, visit Zamore Homes.

The firm behind Noble Home kit houses and the Bare Hill Barn House is JASONOAH. From the Noble Home web site:

Design partners Noah Grunberg and Jason Silverman have been custom designing modern affordable homes for many years.

From the JASONOAH web site:

For over ten years, JASONOAH’s knowledge of organic architecture, solar design, and earth berm construction has provided them with techniques to satisfy customers’ desires for natural homes. With construction industry partners, JASONOAH can offer a design-build service for residential and commercial projects - built on time and within budget.

Visit JASONOAH.com.