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Sunday, 6 April 2008 | Levent OZLER
Livinghomes Introduces New Townhouse and Expandable Residences
LivingHomes, a premier developer of modern, sustainably designed, prefabricated homes, is proud to announce a new collaborative relationship with award-winning Philadelphia-based architecture firm KieranTimberlake Associates LLP (KieranTimberlake). KieranTimberlake is a nationally recognized firm known for its research, innovation, and inventive design. Founded in 1984 by Stephen Kieran, FAIA, and James Timberlake, FAIA, the firm's projects span the planning, programming, and design of all types of new structures and their interiors. The firm has long been a leader in sustainable design and offsite fabrication. The "expandable" single-family LivingHomes by KieranTimberlake were inspired by their much-lauded Loblolly House. LivingHomes is also introducing a new higherdensity, hybrid townhouse unit that can be attached or detached.
"We're very excited to be working with KieranTimberlake," says LivingHomes Founder and CEO Steve Glenn. "Our collective prefabrication experience allowed us to design a completely new kind of building system, one that will allow us to make our homes faster, with less cost and a smaller ecological footprint. In addition to lower cost single family LivingHomes designed by KieranTimberlake, we're introducing our first multi-family homes, which allows us to better serve the urban infill market. With these homes, we begin to fulfill our mission to make our homes affordable and accessible to people around the country and world."
Prefab Pioneers and the Livinghomes Building System (LBS)
KieranTimberlake is internationally recognized for its research focusing on new materials, processes, assemblies and products, and has successfully implemented off-site fabrication techniques based on lessons learned from the aerospace, auto, and shipbuilding industries. Successful projects include Yale University, Pierson College Upper Court, where they set forty-two dorm room modules for a new building by crane over the course of four days. At Loblolly House, the thousands of parts that make up a typical house were integrated into just a few off-site fabricated assemblies and easily attached to an aluminum frame on site. Other offsite fabricated elements designed by KieranTimberlake include rain screen cladding made from reclaimed lumber at Sidwell Friends Middle School, the first school ever to be certified LEED Platinum and a winner of last year's AIA Committee on the Environment "Top Ten Green Award." (The first LivingHome was also a winner of this award, the only residence to be selected.) KieranTimberlake is also one of five architects commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art to display a full-scale offsite fabricated house as part of this year's exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.
Combining their respective expertise and knowledge, LivingHomes and KieranTimberlake have developed the LivingHomes Building System, a proprietary platform that combines modules for kitchens, baths and utility cores, and "Smart Panels", that integrate mechanical ducting, electrical and plumbing. With complexity and cost concentrated in particular panels and modules, this flexible building system allows for high-volume fabrication, assemble and easier transportation.
"We see the LBS as an important tool and a great opportunity to make quality, environmentally responsible design available to more people," explains Steve Kieran, Partner at KieranTimberlake.
Each home is virtually constructed using high-tech parametric modeling software before anything is actually physically built either at the site or at the factory. The virtual assembly process even further reduces construction waste and allows the design team to map out the construction process in precise detail.
"James Timberlake and I have long argued that there is a pandemic lack of productivity and quality control in the design and construction industry today," said Kieran. "With this belief structure, we see working with LivingHomes as an exceptional and welcome opportunity to bring a new level of quality, productivity, affordability, and sustainability to housing development."
Introducing the "Expandable" Single Family Residence
In addition to lower cost and faster production, the LBS allows for the unprecedented adaptability of previously 'fixed' spaces. The new "expandable" single family LivingHome by KieranTimberlake is designed to grow with the changing needs of its inhabitants and can be easily reconfigured from a modest 900 sf dwelling for a single person or young couple to a spacious 2,160 sf fourbedroom home for a growing family. LivingHome owners will be able to purchase addition rooms from LivingHomes, when they need them, and LivingHomes will assemble those rooms on site.
"As you marry, have kids, add in-laws to the household, etc., you're either moving a lot or constantly renovating, which is time-consuming, expensive, stressful, and very wasteful from a resource perspective," says Steve Glenn. "LivingHomes by KieranTimberlake introduce an important new capability to homes - the ability to efficiently and cost-effectively adapt to people's changing lifestyle living needs."
As with all LivingHomes products, these homes are designed to achieve as close as possible to the "Z6" goals LivingHomes strives to achieve with its homes: zero energy, water, indoor emissions, waste, carbon, and ignorance. All LivingHomes must secure at least a LEED for Homes Silver rating. Therefore, as with all LivingHomes, most major materials in the new line are recycled, reclaimed or sustainable grown and/or sourced. All fixtures are water-efficient and the homes are grey water-ready. Only low VOC paints and stains are used and all millwork is formaldehyde free. There are also options for LED down lights, photovoltaics, a rooftop garden, and other environmental systems.
Initially priced at $215/sf, excluding foundation and transportation costs which could add $50/sf or more, depending on the foundation needs and distance from the LivingHome factories, the LivingHomes by KieranTimberlake are now available for purchase in California, Arizona, and Florida. Over time, the home will be made available in additional locations, and with volume, price is expected to decline to $155/sf.
Introducing the New Livinghomes "Townhouse"
KieranTimberlake has also designed a multi-family line for LivingHomes. The new 'townhouse' design, which can be attached or detached, places two stories of living space atop a ground floor garage. Each townhouse features two bedrooms, a flex room, and two bathrooms. The open, flowing living area upstairs creates a deceivingly spacious feel in a relatively compact space. Designed to be more affordable and accessible, LivingHomes will offer the townhouse model in four floor plan variations, each of approximately 1,500 sf. Currently priced at $185/sf (including installation but excluding transportation and foundation), the townhouses are available for purchase immediately nation-wide. With increased volume, LivingHomes expects to be able offer their trademark modern and sustainable products for $135/sf.
"LivingHomes and KieranTimberlake both see multifamily construction as a way of encouraging responsible infill development," explained Glenn. "We hope to be part of the solution by providing smart, sustainable housing options at a time when consumers really need them."
LivingHomes is already applying the LBS in a real-world context and is currently in the design phase of a multi-family project in the San Francisco area for a major national developer.
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