tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post3422778744157239061..comments2024-03-03T15:23:35.934-05:00Comments on Modern House Plans by Gregory La Vardera Architect: Letters from Sweden - PreFab is DEADlavarderahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-51789650642043706152011-01-21T18:21:51.863-05:002011-01-21T18:21:51.863-05:00Thorwald, I invite you to browse through the LamiD...Thorwald, I invite you to browse through the LamiDesign Idea Log - link in the right hand column - where we have done a wide review of many of the Swedish Factory products. Check the archives from Oct10-Jan11lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-12082864625350625712011-01-21T17:51:24.323-05:002011-01-21T17:51:24.323-05:00COuld you post a list of the most important Swedis...COuld you post a list of the most important Swedish pre-fab builders? I assume you have one thanks to your research. If not I'll start Googling.Thorwald Westmaashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15943974527115436317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-51135555531538816362010-10-29T12:09:36.161-04:002010-10-29T12:09:36.161-04:00Prefab rocks, and I support it as a design and mat...Prefab rocks, and I support it as a design and material wonder. Just want one.nyrogrlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17336808508391313074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-37065555871340138852010-10-29T11:04:49.539-04:002010-10-29T11:04:49.539-04:00Our expo of Swedish Factory Houses continues in th...Our expo of Swedish Factory Houses continues in the right side column. Today Trivselhus.<br /><br />We are trying to show you the magnitude of the FAIL of the USA housing industry here. If a small country can provide so much choice for modern houses AND be profitable at it, why can't the USA even provide a limited selection?<br /><br />Larger Merchant Home builders here in the USA - FAIL.<br />PreFab efforts here in the USA - FAIL.<br /><br />How much more slack are we supposed to cut out here. Its time to demand better.lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-57726491309997736822010-10-28T11:34:25.935-04:002010-10-28T11:34:25.935-04:00If you are curious about the MOMA exhibit mentione...If you are curious about the MOMA exhibit mentioned in my post above you can see my photos and read my impressions of the MOMA - Home Delivery PreFab show here: <a href="http://ht.ly/30UAS" rel="nofollow">Greg's photos on PushPullBar Forum</a><br /><br />The sad truth is that the MOMA show completely missed the point, and completely ignored the few PreFab products that were actually making some headway. My photos and comments are meant to highlight how off course this show was.<br /><br />Scott is dying to post his thoughts on the MOMA show. What do you say? Interested in reading more about this sad comment on architect's relationship to prefab?lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-47366494774788858502010-10-27T18:10:44.416-04:002010-10-27T18:10:44.416-04:00Architect in the US long ago lost their relevance ...Architect in the US long ago lost their relevance in housing, so we don't have anything to loose there. Its my opinion that we can play a bigger part in the future of housing here if we actively embrace and push for a new way forward. Housing is a shambles. Any small builder, or small factory that wants to distinguish themselves in this tough market should be embracing new methods like this. <br /><br />To celebrate all that has been done in Sweden, and to show readers all the fine choices in house designs that they have every day we are going to feature images of Swedish catalog house designs in the LamiDesign Idea Log, visible in the right column of the blog for the rest of this week, maybe longer! <br /><br />How would you like going shopping for a house and having every builder you visit offer you a choice of 5, 10, maybe even 15 different modern designs? Whatever you like, you are the customer, they are at your service.lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-6738858525730603152010-10-27T16:10:25.865-04:002010-10-27T16:10:25.865-04:00Point out how vacuous, intellectually empty and de...Point out how vacuous, intellectually empty and deliberately confusing the architectural conversation around "prefab" in America is and how the rest of the world has surged ahead in both energy performance and customer value in residential construction, and people who profess to care about these things, call you "an extremist". <br /><br />Keep it up Greg. They are listening, Ms. Grabler is in the second stage of Kübler-Ross's five steps, and you do her no favors by backing down or easing her grief by saying "no, its not your way of thinking that is wrong, it is everyone else, there there, you'll be fine, your prefab isn't dead". <br /><br />When a loved idea (as a loved person) dies, there are steps to progress as we move to "acceptance". It is hard, but necessary, only then can we progress. <br /><br />Architects, trained in a certain way of seeing their role, have got to come to terms with the truth of what you are saying ... don't back down, keep saying it. A less wasteful and more attractive future lies down this path ... why just have a drive around any new subdivision outside Stockholm and ask yourself, why are these houses so much better that the ones in St. Paul? <br /><br />It is a shame, yet understandable that your courage in pointing out the truth is received as "extremism" - one day architects may accept "the lessons of the factory" - but as Davies points out, it ain't gonna be easy for them, even in Sweden, architects struggle for relevance in all that we've accomplished.The Smiling Swedehttp://www.itinerantcarpenter.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-64753827839704259252010-10-27T14:50:04.127-04:002010-10-27T14:50:04.127-04:00Betsy, the healthy discussion begins right after t...Betsy, the healthy discussion begins right after the headline, I promise. We are all entitled to play the shock card once in a great while if its for a good reason. I'll gladly apologize if it offends you. I'm a big supporter of what Wee House has and is accomplishing - you'll note that I cited Wee House as an example of prefab success in the comments of Lloyd Alter's first TreeHugger post linked above. <br /><br />Individual efforts have been successful in delivering good design and good value to their customers. Wee House is a perfect example, as is Hive, Res4A out of NYC to perhaps a customer of a higher budget, and of course MKD's efforts until dragged down by the economy.<br /><br />I don't expect Rome to be built in a day, and clearly we've had more than a "day". I do expect re-evaluation and incremental improvement, not just in the production circle of each designer's venture, but in the housing industry as a whole. Vendors have to improve their process. Component manufacturers need to revise their products to support off-site building, and designers need to learn how to become part of a manufacturing process and break from the architects traditional role. Wee House may be making progress on all these fronts, but the housing industry is not. <br /><br />And that is my point. "PreFab" is dead because it will never be able to serve our entire market of green or sustainable or modern focused home owners as a series of limited ventures. Pre-fabrication off-site is only one small part of making change in the housing market. PreFab is not the movement that will result in change. Its bigger than that, and the sooner we all begin to embrace this bigger idea of intelligent manufacturing of homes, then the sooner we will be able to shape the market and bring other essential players on board.lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-58885142958609885922010-10-27T14:23:39.942-04:002010-10-27T14:23:39.942-04:00Extremism gets people nowhere ... and over-excites...Extremism gets people nowhere ... and over-excites too many. I'm sad that a designer+architect bought into a definition of success largely created by media/marketing. <br /><br />Contemporary prefab doesn't have to be 'hugely adopted' to be successful. If we've learned anything about modular prefabrication is that it *can* adapt itself to new designs. Why else are there so many architects talking to factories like Simplex, Clayton Homes, etc. this very minute? And why else are those factories trying to create their own brand with it? <br /><br />It's just a slow process and doesn't make a lot of money right now for anyone. Who determines that 10 years (which I don't agree with either) of not-mass-success = failure/death? Geez, Rome wasn't built in a day either.<br /><br />Please stop the generalized ridiculous shock statements and get back to having healthy, spirited discussions on continuing to move forward. wee is.<br /><br />-Betsy Gabler, Alchemy Architects, home of the very much alive weeHouse (if only defined as home to some-not-all)Betsy Gablerhttp://www.alchemyarch.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-16109880686092387992010-10-27T08:45:30.977-04:002010-10-27T08:45:30.977-04:00A thoughtful reaction by Modern PreFab home develo...A thoughtful reaction by Modern PreFab home developer Squallco here:<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.squallco.com/post/1407278064/prefab-is-alive-but-housing-is-on-life-support" rel="nofollow">Squallco blog post on PreFabDead</a><br /><br />and my response is in the comments, but I'll repeat it here as well:<br /><br />I wanted to post a thoughtful response to Kevin because our heads are in the same place. In fact his application of PreFab in a market like LBI makes tremendous sense and is an opportunity for any buyer to get more house for their money in that Market. So in that sense prefab did not fail, in fact its a spectacular success. <br /><br />My criticism really lands on other markets. But you can't say that prefab is failing in those other places either. Modular factories have produced thousands of homes, all a good value for their owners. Where it failed however was in its promise to help all of those fans of modern homes to find a reasonable and fair priced offering of modern houses in the wider housing market. Big FAIL here. If I'm coming down on prefab its because if nothing changes there, then nothing is going to turn that FAIL around.<br /><br />So how can the Swedes do it? Why does their prefab industry offer a wider selection? Why does it account for almost all the houses they build? Its because they changed their house building industry to support it. They changed all the products that go in to their house to work with prefabrication, to remove barriers to easy and fast assembly, and they continuously adopted new process that supported this approach. That translated into a more efficient way to build, which could result in lower prices, sure, but in Sweden's case was turned back into high energy performance. <br /><br />How does that help us who are interested in Modern? What they arrived at is what we call Modern Method of Construction or MMC - no, not modern style, but modern techniques and practices. Building a house is not treated like a "craft" - its treated like a modern industrial process. Houses are assembled on a line, with waste and redundancy eliminated at every step. Lean processes are used, and there is a keen awareness of where they are adding value for the customer, and how to eliminate things that are not. Ultimately this process is style neutral - a modern style house costs no more than a traditional house, and any manufacturer would be a fool to not offer a house that somebody is willing to buy. Fix the process, and house style takes care of itself, and we all enjoy more efficient houses.lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-21432565218462129672010-10-25T11:53:54.440-04:002010-10-25T11:53:54.440-04:00This blogger gets it:
However, the larger point i...This blogger gets it:<br /><br /><i>However, the larger point is that affordable, efficient and modern housing that is actually viable in the marketplace can only come from true systemic innovations in production (a la the Swedish model) – not simply through clever individual choices by particular manufacturers/providers of specific manufactured/prefab houses or kits.</i><br /><br /><a href="http://bliggityblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/prefabdead/" rel="nofollow">Bliggity Blog</a>lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-75718864741388201992010-10-24T21:22:33.028-04:002010-10-24T21:22:33.028-04:00Anonymous, some people were afraid, but each of th...Anonymous, some people were afraid, but each of them were 10+ that came to PreFab only to discover it was no more affordable than custom design. They were right back where they started. It was not a failure to win customers, it was a failure to change the industry at a fundamental level. Modern/Green/Sustainable remains the exception which the industry will not offer alongside the status quo.lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-9425205955244600122010-10-24T21:18:55.141-04:002010-10-24T21:18:55.141-04:00I have to give a shout out to Lloyd Alter who was ...I have to give a shout out to Lloyd Alter who was actually the first to speak the taboo PreFab is Dead message long ago on TreeHugger here:<br /><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/glidehouse-at-end-of-road-for-modern-prefab.php" rel="nofollow">The Glidehouse Is At The End Of The Road For Green Modern Prefab</a><br />and here:<br /><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/the-end-of-the-road-prefab.php" rel="nofollow">The End of the Road for Modern Prefab? This Just Might Be The Beginning!</a>lavarderahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07241073948874188058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38363189.post-62887634025150675482010-10-24T21:14:22.318-04:002010-10-24T21:14:22.318-04:00I think people are just afraid of change or they w...I think people are just afraid of change or they worry PreFab is not what their parents grew up in or whatever. They don't know what they are going to miss out on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com