Prefab Design: An Option for Brooklyn?
The Times looks at the modern prefab house that won Dwell magazine’s 2003 design competition. Beyond appreciating the design (which we like very much), it made us wonder why there couldn’t be a well-designed prefab townhouse designed for the typical 20-foot-wide lot. According to the article, this 3,000-square-foot house will cost between $225 and $250…
The Times looks at the modern prefab house that won Dwell magazine’s 2003 design competition. Beyond appreciating the design (which we like very much), it made us wonder why there couldn’t be a well-designed prefab townhouse designed for the typical 20-foot-wide lot. According to the article, this 3,000-square-foot house will cost between $225 and $250 per square foot, which, even if it was replicable in New York City, would still put a new brownstone at over a million dollars including the cost of land–hardly affordable housing. We’d be interested in hearing from the architects out there whether doing a slightly lower-end, less sexy version of a prefab house is realistic for New York–let’s say something that could be built for under $200 a foot.
A Modern Look for Prefab Housing [NY Times]
Its funny ’cause I’ve been thinking the same thing: Could a prefab house make it here. I think the biggest question is not cost, but does the pre-fab construction pass all the local laws for fire, electric, etc. The flatpak homes come in 8-foot sections so it won’t fit in a 20′ wide lot perfectly. Other prefabs are 800 sq-ft units which can be stacked in various configurations. Modern-modual (www.modern-modual.com) designs that type of pre-fab.
I’ve often wondered why the City, or some magazine/developer team doesn’t sponsor a sample of modern modular homes in some depressed area. Would become a destination and be an amazing showcase. Many of these pre-fabs can be configured into multi-family housing.
I think for the kind of style, materials and finish, $250/sq ft. seems cheap. $750K for a fully finished (with appliances) 3000 sq. ft. home sounds very cheap.
What’s the cost of raw land in Brooklyn these days? Especially in edgier ‘hoods?
The capsys website shows many of their modular projects. A lot of their “brownstone style” modular projects are not bad looking. I think that the front of the houses with some finer upgrades would fit in well in this part of brooklyn(I think their fine even the way they were put up), especially for the infill projects in bed-stuy. Too bad they don’t sell to developers of individual lots. Although they do note that they had projects of 20 buildings. Hey brownstoner, maybe you could hook up these guys with all the developers in bed-stuy and the south slope. Your thoughts… I also think we should have these developers put up new buildings that more match the context of the buildings in the neighborhood. I notice that they seem to do that in historic areas in other cities. Why not here in NY?
One of the other Dwell winners is the FlatPak house, which seems like, with a little reconfiguration, could be perfect for Brooklyn (or at least that’s what I keep telling myself)…
All OVER south Williamsburg, 3 story prefabs went into every empty lot around 15 years ago. Truck ’em in and brick ’em up.
waaay different from the Dwell house
The makers of the Dwell house say it should cost $250-300 on “the coasts.” The thing about these houses is that they’re made of squares and rectangles that you can stack and configure however you want. The wall pieces are interchangeable, so you can place windows wherever you want. So, as long as they make a 20 foot wide unit, making a townhouse is simply a question of stacking four rectangles.
When I was house hunting 3 years ago I contacted Capsys Corp to see if they did pre-fab for single homebuyers and they did not. They only do larger development projects. I think they’re missing what could be a HUGE market.
They make everything in the Navy Yard I believe. I was looking to live in Red Hook and I thought ooh, they could put the house on a boat, ship it to Red Hook, unload it onto a truck and drive it down the street. (ok that was my fantasy).
They’d need like 3-4 designs with interchangable choices for window and external finishes and they’d be putting up houses left and right in this town.
ltjbukem,
Looks like from their website they do all the construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, so maybe those flatbeds aren’t theirs (and I agree, it is frustrating to get stuck behind them). Still, Capsys looks like they are answering a need many here have expressed. I wonder how much they cost psf?
The Dwell house was built for between $225 and $250 but that obviously was not in the NYC metro area. It looks like it was built it a fairly rural area where construction costs are low. The cost multiplier for NYC would probably bring that house closer to $300/SF if not more.
ps-
Capsys Corp. is affiliated with Hudson Development, the developer of the J Condominium. This is a blurb from Hudson’s website about Capsys:
“Additional construction capabilities are available to Hudson through its affiliated company Capsys Corp. a manufacturer of factory built modular housing. Capsys operations are located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where it has produced several hundred modular homes for the Nehemiah housing program. Capsys has also supplied factory built homes for projects in the New Homes program of the City’s HPD and the New York City Housing Partnership, including the Saratoga 7 project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and Southside Homes in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It has also supplied modular homes for a market development of single-family homes in the Bergen Beach, Brooklyn, and currently has projects slated for Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and The Rockaways in Queens.”
So, brownstoner, looks as though there is at least one manufacturer out there…