Cheap & Green Modular Home The New York Times 10.16.08

Cheap & Green Modular Home
The New York Times 10.16.08

In today's Home section of The New York Times, we get a brief but exciting look at a green modular home that was also cheap...

Thomas Small and Joanna Brody's new home in Culver City, California was built on a tight budget &mdash while the materials and construction cost only about $40,000, the long term planning and preparation for a prefabricated house built in three weeks cost about $528,000, total ("about a third of the going rate for architect-designed houses of this size in the Los Angeles area").

In addition to more familiar green materials like steel and linoleum, the architects, Sander Architects, used sunflower husks and shredded blue jeans for insulation.

Check out the story and photos of the family's abundant space and natural light:
Prefab, High-Concept and Green and slideshow.

Pics: Claudio Santini, Lawrence Anderson/Esto

Comments (13)

Aha! I was wondering how such high ceilings could be "green," since it would waste massive amounts of heat. But of course this house is in sunny CA.

posted by Lisa Hunter (Montreal) on October 16th 2008 at 1:28pm
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I love the duvet set. Does anyone know who makes it?

posted by dearmisha on October 16th 2008 at 1:46pm
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Duvet set is by West Elm but it was last season and doesn't appear to be on their website anymore. :(
http://www.westelm.com

posted by greenbydesign on October 16th 2008 at 2:10pm
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Amazing house. I'm in love!

posted by firebird on October 16th 2008 at 2:47pm
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When I bought my home, the bank repeatedly stressed they wouldn't finance a modular or manufactured home. I wonder if that mandate would apply to something like this?

posted by madampince on October 16th 2008 at 3:12pm
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Did they give a good reason why they wouldn't? That sounds like something we all need to know, thank you for mentioning it.

posted by btoddster on October 16th 2008 at 5:58pm
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Half a million dollars may be 'moderate' for aggressive markets like Southern California, but it is far from 'cheap,' in the sense of being in any way affordable for people with modest income. Where are the small-scale, attractive, green alternatives for the hideous vinyl-sided mobile homes that blight many less tony areas?

posted by amed studio on October 16th 2008 at 9:47pm
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ALSO LOVE THE DUVET SET!!! BRILLIANT WEST ELM!! YET AGAIN WITH THE PATTERNS!!! really great and unlike anywhere else!! they rock!!

posted by harrydog on October 17th 2008 at 3:21am
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yes, that duvet set is wonderful. i'd love to have it.

posted by Pistachio on October 17th 2008 at 4:51am
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I agree with amed studio.
how is half a million dollars cheap??
and how can spending half a million dollars on ANYTHING be considered green? yeah your walls are filled with blue jeans.. but is that really the most effective way to spend?

im not going to bother looking at the duvet.

posted by antimatt on October 17th 2008 at 5:25am
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I am also wondering about the cost...I reread the info about the cost several times, sure I was missing something. How did planning raise the cost from 40k to 500k? For most people, this is not a cheap house.

posted by lorie on October 17th 2008 at 10:13am
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Wow, that duvet set is totally amazing and I want it NOW.

That'll teach me to not talk smack about West Elm!

posted by Anna at D16 on October 17th 2008 at 11:46am
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Hey, for someone out there with a king-sized bed, you can get the duvet set on eBay for $70 (Buy It Now).

posted by Anna at D16 on October 17th 2008 at 11:49am
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