Custom Prefab Home Is at One With Nature and Technology

Most earlier attempts at prefab houses turned out to be unmarketable duds because the architects couldn't keep the costs down or make the assembly truly simple. Ambitious do-it-yourselfers discovered that some kits, like those from Sears, were nothing more than a truckload of pre-cut construction materials. Once the kit arrived, the parts had to be assembled piece by piece, just like a conventional house.

But computerized design, which has already transformed the way big suburban builders operate, is starting to filter down to custom projects. By standardizing the components into factory-made panels, Kieran said, construction can be speeded up on the ground, lowering the cost. Waste is reduced when houses are assembled in factories. Kieran says he threw away only 7 percent of Loblolly's construction materials, down from the industry standard of 40 percent, increasing its "green" quotient dramatically.

In recent years, computer-savvy architects have been racing to market ever more sophisticated prefab homes. It's now possible to choose from a wide selection of modernist designs that could easily make the cover of Dwell, the shelter magazine for the flat-roof-loving classes.

Kieran and Bensonwood Homes, his Walpole, N.H., collaborator, won't disclose the cost of the Loblolly prototype, but they say their flat-pack panel concept has the potential to put custom-designed prefab homes within the economic reach of the kind of people who subscribe to Dwell.

Part of the savings comes from reduced shipping costs. Kieran argues that it's more efficient to ship flat panels than modular boxes full of air, especially when all the systems are embedded in the panels at the factory. The downside is that panel assembly may take slightly longer on site than modular houses.

To prove their point about panels, KieranTimberlake is hooking up with LivingHomes, a Santa Monica, Calif., company that specializes in marketing prefab homes by big-name modern designers. The company, founded by software mogul Steve Glenn, hopes to use KieranTimberlake's flat-pack approach to become the Design Within Reach of housing. Wired magazine was so taken with the idea that it featured the Loblolly House in its January issue, under the headline "Plug+Play Construction."

From the start, Kieran saw his weekend house as an opportunity to promote the architectural theories that he has developed with partner James Timberlake. Since their firm debuted in the mid-'80s with a green building for the private Shipley School in Pennsylvania, they have argued that architects need to get better at integrating a building's systems with its aesthetics.

They pushed those ideas at the University of Pennsylvania's Levin Hall, which is outfitted with an elegant two-ply glass curtain wall that doubles as a channel for air handling. In 2003, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum gave them a show to demonstrate the advantages of using a building skin embedded with an array of wiring.

Loblolly House, situated on four acres, is probably their best marriage so far of theory and aesthetics. Its geeky functionalism is offset by the beauty of its richly textured materials and poetic composition. Marguerite Rodgers, who has molded such elegant Philadelphia restaurants as Rouge and Lacroix, helped by softening the interiors with a palette of earthy colors and taming the spare modernism with a judicious infusion of Asian antiques.

The original working idea for the 1,800-square-foot Loblolly House was the cordgrass duck blind favored by local hunters. Enclosed on three sides by cedar slats that have been arranged randomly to create the impression of sunlight dappling through the pines, the house offers an unimpeded view of the Chesapeake from its fourth side, like the hunter's hideouts.

Instead of installing standard windows on that western exposure, the architects developed an improved version of Levin Hall's two-part glass wall. While a row of French doors runs the length of the house on the interior side, a layer of milk-glass garage doors can be brought down on the outer side to serve as a sunshade.

When both sets of windows are closed, they act as heat collectors, trapping warm air in the gap between the layers and channeling it through the house. If it gets too hot, Kieran simply raises the garage door, letting the heat escape.

Should he decide to fling open both sets of doors, the house turns into a breezy porch.

Kieran purposely placed the living room and kitchen on the top floor so they would have the best views. On occasion, he says, he's looked up from his culinary efforts at the stove to see a bald eagle cascading on the currents outside.

In a machine designed for living, you can't get much closer to nature than that.