Our coverage of the three-day design conference that is CA Boom wraps up with the prefab vendor section of the conference floor, and while the usual suspects aka Steve Glenn's LivingHomeswere present, where was prefab stalwart Marmol Radziner? One interesting new entrants was the the itty-bitty Modern Shed and its quaint homemade sale sign in the window: "$15,000 with deck. Free Local Delivery." The web site for the Seattle-based company notes prices range from $7,740 for a 48-square-foot shed to $18,200 for a 10 by 12 studio. Prefab marvel or glorified spider hole? You be the judge.
· Modern Shed [Official site]
· CA Boom: Prefab Zone [CA Boom]
· CA Boom House Tours: Santa Monica's House of Sand[Curbed LA]
Sounds easy: maneuver some modules and send the hardhats home. Get to the windows and doors and stuff later. What could possibly go wrong? Oh yeah, the first real rain in LA in like 13 months. As we discovered this weekend, deep inside an "exclusive architectural enclave of Brentwood," a window or two might've kept the $4 million WIRED LivingHome a bit drier, and prevented a visit from the squeegee guy before the open house next month.
Good news from WIRED LivingHome public relations. The three-day installation of this $4 million pre-fab is "going faster than expected." The bad news? Today, on day three, the construction site webcams (one, two) may be limited to views of "crews wrapping up and the trellis going in and shots of the completed house." It's OK, we'll wait for the October tours. Meanwhile, a Curbed LA commenter wants to know, where is this being built? The vetted response: "Crestwood Hills, an exclusive architectural enclave of Brentwood."
· WIRED Home [LivingHomes]
· Day One: WIRED Home Installation [Curbed LA]
· Prefab Just Getting So Damn Fancy [Curbed LA]
About half the 11 pre-fab modules danced into place yesterday, the first day of installation for LA's 4,200 sq ft WIRED LivingHome. Who knew construction workers were so light on their feet? Their slow-motion ballet continues today and tomorrow on webcams one and two.
· WIRED Home [LivingHomes]
· Prefab Just Getting So Damn Fancy [Curbed LA]
Local architecture firm LivingHomes/Ray Kappe presents the WIRED Home, their latest prefab home--and one that's geared toward the techie-environment-conscious set. Via the Wired web site: "The $4 million modernist home in an exclusive enclave of Los Angeles allows luxury and the environment to live together in harmony.The WIRED Home is where green plugs in. LEED® certified and designed by Ray Kappe, FAIA, the house is prefab to reduce cost and waste. Installation takes only two days. Fully automated to allow for simplicity and control, it is filled with the latest in gadgets, gear and appliances, yet still keeps kilowatt usage low. Even the car [ED: car comes with house?] is environmentally friendly. Emitting essentially nothing but water vapor, the BMW Hydrogen 7 is the first hydrogen-powered luxury performance sedan for everyday use."
· Wired Home [Wired Magzine/LivingHomes]
· Update: LivingHomes Install #2 Coming Soon [Curbed LA}
Our good pals at LivingHomes have made this month's supersize edition of GQ (the one with Barack Obama on the cover). It was conveniently stuffed in our mail hole yesterday. In a featurette on green buildings, the LivingHomes house in Santa Monica, designed by Ray Kappe, gets listed as one of "the ten coolest eco-friendly buildings in the world" along side green juggernauts such as Thom Mayne's Federal Building in San Francisco, the Grand MOMA complex in Beijing and the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China. No word on when LivingHomes house #2 breaks ground.
· LivingHomes Goes Platinum [Curbed LA]
· Curbed LA Goes to LivingHomes House [Curbed LA]
· Prefab Goes Live in Santa Monica [Curbed LA]
Steve Glenn's LivingHomes, mentioned before on Curbed LA, gets play by KNBC's Channel 4. Some hard numbers: This prefabricated square foot costs about $250, 30 percent less than a traditional stick-built site home, reports the TV station, information which seems to fly in the face of other reports about how expensive these homes can cost. Also, the TV report says it may be difficult for people to reproduce these homes (why? tell us why TV news guy!). But here's something cheap you can do: According to Steve Glenn, if everyone in the country replaces just one light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, it is the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.
· Santa Monica Home Built To Eco-Friendly Code [KNBC Channel 4]
· LivingHomes Prefab Home is Wicked Expensive [Curbed LA]
In general, the prefab area was pretty much the same as last year. The Marmol Radziner booth people were cool and talked to us for awhile. WeeHouse gave us a rub-on tatoo. V2 had some LEGOs, but we didn't take any. Steve Glenn of LivingHomes displayed his LEED plaque (pictured above) despite initial fears it might be stolen by an eco-terrorist. And then there was the KitHaus (pictured below), which had it's first installation outside of a Van Nuys parking lot. The unit was a popular attraction, as we found ourselves wedged between prefab enthusiasts while we made our way through the box.
Checking in with CA Boom! Curbed correspondent (and local architect) Steph-dog went to the house tours on Friday in Santa Monica and files this report on the LivingHomes house designed by Ray Kappe (pictured above): "There was a lot of oohing and ahhing among the crowd around me...Loved the feeling of openness, the walls don’t go up to full height, so you never feel claustrophobic. The outdoor spaces are interlinked and on slightly different levels so wherever you are in the house, you are aware of the exterior space. The rooftop garden is just getting started....Also loved the prefab metal stairs sheathed in perforated metal....and the bathroom and the detail of the tile work."
· CA Boom [CA Boom Official Site]
Saturday afternoon we were joined by an especially chipper co-editor Marissa and Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG (which was just named a Yahoo! Pick of 2006), along with his charming wife, for a personalized tour of the LivingHomes prefab installation in Santa Monica. As you know, we have discussed the home repeatedly, good and bad, so the opportunity to see the interior up close and in person could not be missed.
We arrived in the afternoon ready to meet Steve Glenn, the owner and founder of LivingHomes, only to find a busload of Dutch tourists swarming around the home in their non-wooden shoes, taking pictures and asking questions. We noticed that they stared at us with dead, inhuman eyes, judging us silently. Stupid Dutch. The home is really quite attractive. Many of the modern and prefab homes we've visited recently have sort of an IKEA-ish feel to them, so we were surprised to find the LivingHomes house had a nice comfy lived-in and livable feel to it. After the Dutch left, Steve sat down with us for a nice chat. Among the many things we learned was that LivingHomes has several other units in production in SoCal and sales are going well. A redesigned Web site, scheduled to launch soon, will provide potential buyers with the ability to customize their homes. He also showed us some things which we were not allowed to take pictures of. Whatever. More pictures and words after the jump.
The latest in our occasional but continuing series of interviews with LA's architects, planners, politicians and thinkers who shape this city. Someone must have misinformed Ray Kappe, architect, academic and founder of SCI-Arc, about the importance of Curbed LA because he actually answered our emails and thoughtfully responded to our interview questions. Below, find his thoughts on sustainable architecture, the future of SCI-Arc, and why he rejects the "living legend" label.
[Image provided by Ray Kappe]
So, let’s start with the big question: what’s it like to be a “living legend”?
I have been fortunate and have enjoyed successfully practicing architecture for fifty-three years, with recognition, publication and design awards locally, nationally, and internationally; as well as having been involved in education for forty-four years, having been Founding Chairman of Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona in 1968 and Founding Director of SCI-ARC in 1972. The living legend “label” is generous and flattering but …”a living legend” is in the minds of others.
Your generation, the generation that founded SCI-Arc, and the first generation of graduating students from SCI-Arc were great believers in activism and cooperation. What would you say is the future of SCI-Arc when it moves further away from being a co-op school of architecture towards a more conventionally competitive school of design like the GSD or Columbia?
When an endeavor like SCI-ARC begins, it is only natural that it generates activism and cooperation in order to survive. During the first few years, the school was a true exploration into the social and behavioral aspects of the architectural education process. I also encouraged a large amount of pedagogical experimentation as well. By 1976 most of the founding students had graduated and SCI-ARC was accredited. It already had an excellent national and international reputation.
As our graduate program grew, we became more competitive with other graduate schools. By the time I stepped down as Director in 1987, after 15 years, our graduate program had grown to 125. Today it is 250, but competitively it is about the same as it was in 1987. Early on, it was rated, and continues to be, with the top schools of Architecture in the world. When one visits SCI-ARC today, one still feels the creative energy. We have just gone through successful accreditation visits from WASC & NAAB – collegiate & professional accrediting groups. Enrollment is up. Our program of European Studies at our villa in Vico Morcote (Lugano), Switzerland is being re-vitalized. So, I would say, with confidence, that the future of SCI-ARC looks excellent.
From this point, I would like to answer most of the remaining questions in the two primary categories. First, I will discuss Los Angeles and related questions, and then I will address those questions related to architectural design and my involvement with prefabrication, energy and environmental concerns, and sustainability.
About Curbed LA
From the studio lots to the downtown lofts. From the beachfront bungalows to the canyon views. From the south bay to the valley, from the westside to the eastside—Curbed LA covers our sense of place, and the neighborhoods we call home. Read more about Curbed LA...
