Pre-Fabricated
Danna and I have been teeter-tottering on our future housing needs for awhile now, going back and forth between wanting to stay in the city and buy versus moving nearby to build. Lately, sparked by some interesting lots on FSBOMadison.com, we have been leaning towards designing something we love so I dug out the stack of printed literature about modern prefab house manufacturers I had been collecting the last time we caught the building bug.
I have been fascinated with mid-century modernism for just about as long as I can remember (long before I knew that what I liked had a name) but had all but given up on the idea of owning one of these minimalist boxes as I moved into adulthood and realized the costs of acquiring one, restructuring my ideas of what I would like in a house to better fit what I should realistically hope for. Then, a few years ago, I started hearing more and more about these little pre-fabricated structures designed around economical production that were popping up at design and architecture shows and websites and even showing up as full-fledged touring museum exhibitions. Maybe it wasn’t so far out of reach afterall.
This past weekend, on a wedding task and birthday trip to MSP we were planning on taking a drive up to St. Cloud, MN to see the house of a client of mine that was designed by Alchemy Architects of St. Paul, who also produce a line of prefabricated homes called weeHouses.
Our house tour ultimately had to be re-scheduled for a visit later in the summer but the prospect of a walkthrough was sufficient enough to get me pretty deep into sales brochures and magazine and internet articles on prefab modernism, especially projects going on in the midwest. Wheels are turning and the bookmarks are piling up both on the browsers and inserted into the stacks of Dwells currently living next to the comfy chair in the little room we call OCUPOP East.
Who knows where all of this will lead but with Danna now out of school, the wedding just around the corner, and property values continuting to rise, the reality of a move is getting closer.
A seed has been planted.
