Email
PrintFab Prefab
When most people think of prefabricated housing, their minds jump to trailer parks, which, although they offer a wonderfully economical mode of housing, do not epitomize great design. So it may come as a bit of a shock to learn that this high-style modern home situated in Moab’s red rock country shares the same origin as the typical doublewide: both were built in a factory and assembled on-site.
Architects Leo Marmol and Ron Radziner, of L.A.’s Marmol Radziner & Associates, chose to pursue prefabricated materials because they are so efficient—and efficiency in building translates to sustainability. “A typical single-family custom home generates a huge volume of waste,” says Marmol. “Anywhere from about 25 to 40 percent of the new materials that arrive on site get discarded, put in a Dumpster and hauled off to a landfill.”
The waste on a typical construction site takes other forms, too. Generally, says Marmol, laborers at a construction site arrive one or two at a time, in inefficient pickup trucks, using large amounts of fuel. Even the scheduling headaches contractors and builders try so hard to avoid—drywallers waiting around for electricians, for example, or a rainstorm that delays roofing—create waste on the job site. “Anytime there’s inefficiency, that means energy is being lost in some way, whether it’s human energy or manufactured energy, as in electricity or fuel,” says Marmol.
In 1908, Henry Ford recognized how inefficiency could eat away at his bottom line, and he invented the assembly line to maximize efficiency at every level of production. Now, architects and consumers are realizing how the assembly line’s efficiency can help create homes that are green from the very start. It’s not a new idea, but with the renewed interest in all things Earth-friendly, it’s a concept that’s catching on.
Construction for the Moab house began in Marmol Radziner’s factory in Los Angeles, but the process of building began before the first piece of wood was sawn. The architects visited the site to assess where the home should be situated and which views ought to be maximized by the home’s design. Using maps from the U.S. Geological Survey, they determined precisely which vistas and buttes would be framed by the windows, capturing views from every inch of the house. “Because [the whole structure] was craned there in just two days, you go from nothing to everything, so if you don’t have it figured out right, you’ve lost your chance to change it,” says Radziner.
As part of their commitment to building green, the architects also situated the home to take advantage of passive solar heating; the home’s large south-facing windows let in lots of light in the winter, helping keep the home warm without requiring its occupants to bump up the thermostat. And carefully calibrated awnings and overhangs help shade the scorching summer sun.
Once the plans were drawn, the factory work began. Everything in the house—the flooring, walls, doors, cabinets, tile, plumbing—was assembled in 8-by-60- and 12-by-60-foot panels. “The whole goal is to minimize impact on the site,” says Marmol. “Most of the energy that it took to produce the house—the disruption, the noise, the dust—happened in an industrial part of Los Angeles.”
The panels were then shipped across the desert to the site. Instead of having the construction staff drive to the site every day, 15 trucks delivered the completed home over two days. Some foundation work beforehand and a little time to “marry” the sections later, and the home was finished. “From the time we first walked on the site to the time the homeowners moved in was a little under one year,” says Marmol.
Although the home came together quickly, that doesn’t mean the architects skimped on the interior details. Radziner, the design principal for Marmol Radziner, made sure the home lived up to its green potential. All of the home’s wood—mainly black walnut—is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and the paints are low-VOC and carry the Green Seal. The floors are Sadlerstone, a composite material more eco-friendly than quarried stone. A geothermal system heats and cools the home, and rooftop solar panels provide electricity.
Just as the home’s materials are Earth-friendly, Radziner also aimed to keep the home in line with its natural surroundings. “The house kind of floats over the landscape a bit, and I like using furnishings that make you feel like you’re as close to the earth as possible,” he says, so he chose very low furnishings to maintain that connection. And with so many windows, the landscape served as a design element indoors. “I chose colors in the furnishings that responded back to the exterior,” he says, “so there were no jarring contrasts from inside to out.”
“If it’s done right, the architecture juxtaposed with the landscape can make you more aware of the landscape around you,” says Radziner, and it’s certainly the case when you look out on the desert surrounding this home. “As soon as you put a frame around it, it’s like the view becomes better because you recognize it as something wonderful,” adds Marmol. And, thanks to the easy-up nature of a prefab home, that view can remain nearly as undisturbed as it was before the home was ever there.
Read our print edition for a complete floor plan of this home. Click here to subscribe.
Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Utah Style and Design Magazine »
Reader Comments:
I enjoyed this article, but was disappointed to see that Irontown Homes, a Utah company, was bypassed completely. Irontown creates homes in their Spanish Fork factory that are every bit as creative, energy efficient, and well-designed as the home you featured. It's also ironic that a California firm built the Moab home, when Irontown is sought after to build California homes on a regular basis.
Am I an Irontown Homes employee? No, just a very satisfied customer. You missed the opportunity to support a local business, which is always unfortunate.