| I'm cheap and I've long been fascinated with | | | | shingles, flooring and paint) to build a home. There |
| technological changes that help make things more | | | | were 447 different styles and they cost between |
| affordable, like Mr. Ford's famous Flivver (the Model | | | | $650 and $2500 ($14,000 to $53,000 in today's |
| T) or the "peoples car" (a Volkswagen). So a short | | | | dollars). Good thing it came with instructions, because |
| National Public Radio piece on the new exhibit at the | | | | it weighed 25 tons and had 30,000 parts. |
| New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) caught | | | | In addition to this historical perspective, the MoMA |
| my attention. | | | | exhibit includes 5 full size homes demonstrating how |
| On a vacant lot adjacent to the Museum, there is an | | | | new materials and applications can create diverse |
| exhibition called Home Delivery: Fabricating the | | | | styles and structures. There is a micro-compact |
| Modern Dwelling. Organized by Barry Bergdoll, the | | | | home of just 76 square feet, a 5 story townhouse |
| museum's chief curator of architecture and design, | | | | wrapped in cellophane, a "shotgun house" intended |
| and curatorial assistant Peter Christensen, the show | | | | for disaster relief areas, one built from 570 square |
| explores the story of the prefabricated house. | | | | foot components that let the home grow as the |
| The idea, of course, is that centralized assembly-line | | | | owner's family grows and a computer designed |
| construction is an efficient way to build things but it | | | | house built of plywood and steel that lets the |
| took technological innovations, like Thomas Edison's | | | | architect and owner choose their design |
| single-pour concrete system or Wachsmann and | | | | simultaneously. Personally, I'm most intrigued by the |
| Gropius' General Panel System, to make it feasible. | | | | "Digitally Fabricated Housing for New Orleans" |
| The history of prefabricated buildings goes back a | | | | because it is made with plywood panels, precut joints |
| long way. Unsure of whether the new land of | | | | and notches and can be built using only a rubber |
| Australia would have enough materials for his son to | | | | mallet. |
| build a home, H. Manning designed his "Portable | | | | In 2003, Dwell magazine sponsored a prefab |
| Colonial Cottage for Emigrants" in 1830 with easily | | | | invitational to build an affordable home. The winner, |
| shippable flat panels. And it cost £15. The | | | | Resolution: 4 Architecture, won with a budget of |
| components were precut so they could be stored in | | | | $200,000 but their project eventually ran $50,000 |
| the ship's hull and dozens were sold to Australians | | | | more, forcing a smaller footprint to stay within |
| during the following years. The housing shortage in | | | | budget. The current cost of a prefab home is $175 |
| Chicago inspired Augustine Taylor to design "balloon | | | | to $250 a square foot, which is not keeping them |
| frame" houses of 2x4s and 2x6s with sheathing over | | | | cheap, since standard building buildings can run $100 |
| the frame which replaced the mortised beam fittings | | | | to $130 a square foot (a lot depends on what you |
| then popular and, as you know, that's how most of | | | | put inside). Rocio Romero from Perryville, MO, sells a |
| our houses are built today. Drywall was a | | | | flat-packed cube-like house kit for between $23,650 |
| technological innovation to eliminate the cost of lathe | | | | and $45,255. Most of us have seen the log-cabin kits |
| and plaster. | | | | when we've navigated up and down I-5. |
| The Ford Motor Company demonstrated how | | | | For more information on the MoMA exhibit, you can |
| assembly-line manufacturing could produce a | | | | go to and for more information on prefabs in general, |
| "ready-made home" in 1919 but the most successful | | | | I suggest |
| of these were the mail-order kit homes sold by | | | | A home for everyone may yet be a dream, but |
| Sears, Roebuck and Company. Between 1908 and | | | | imagination, innovation and technology are making it |
| 1940, Sears shipped more than 70,000 mail order | | | | more possible. |
| homes which included all the materials (including | | | | |