Architecture & Design: The Modular Movement

Once again proving the theory that there are great ideas in the ether that people just pluck out simultaneously, there are a number of interesting articles on prefabricated and modular homes, all of which stress the category's growing popularity with buyers and builders alike.

ConsumerAffairs.Com's headline article this week is a thorough introduction to the modular world, complete with advice on how to choose from the right factory and comparisons between prefab and traditional modes of construction.n

The New York Times gets in on the action with a study on how savvy contractors are promoting the benefits of modular homes and pushing past the "double wide" stigma.

Here's a brief little piece about how the use of modular homes is speeding up the rebuilding effort in the Gulf Coast, and a plea for more homes to be built.

One thing that personally amuses me about the debate over modular homes is listening to traditional home owners stick their noses up at the "sameness" of prefab homes when they go to obscene lengths to buy McMansions that look almost exacly the same. Not only that, they're often pressed so closely together on the same lot of land that they might as well be trailers in their own right. ;)

I generally support anything that promotes innovation and better usage of the environment in home design, so if we can move past the snob factor, modular homes might have a place in the market by the time of the next bubble. :)

(Image courtesy of The Modular Homes Network.)

Posted at October 2, 2006 02:06 PM

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Once again proving the theory that there are great ideas in the ether that people just pluck out simultaneously, there are a number of interesting articles on prefabricated and modular homes, all of which stress the category's growing popularity with buyers and builders alike. ConsumerAffairs.Com's headline article this week is a thorough introduction to the modular world, complete with advice on how to choose from the right factory and comparisons between prefab and traditional modes of construction.n The New York Times gets in on the action with a study on how savvy contractors are promoting the benefits of modular homes and pushing past the "double wide" stigma. Here's a brief little piece about how the use of modular homes is speeding up the rebuilding effort in the Gulf Coast, and a plea for more homes to be built. One thing that personally amuses me about the debate over modular homes is listening to traditional home owners stick their noses up at the "sameness" of prefab homes when they go to obscene lengths to buy McMansions that look almost exacly the same. Not only that, they're often pressed so closely together on the same lot of land that they might as well be trailers in their own right. ;) I generally support anything that promotes innovation and better usage of the environment in home design, so if we can move past the snob factor, modular homes might have a place in the market by the time of the next bubble. :) (Image courtesy of The Modular Homes Network.)