For fun, we looked around at some pre-fab homes (no we have not encountered an affordable, conveniently located plot of land to put a pre-fab on yet, but let us know if you do :)) and found that since they are built more efficiently, they also come at a great price! A typical, 3-bedroom American home can be bought with just ~$100,000. A beautiful modern in contrast can be 3x the price at ~$300,000. Ultimately though, pre-fabs are still a great deal for the package!
A modern pre-fab we came across and found out we could rent is the following by Method Homes. I would love to, one day, live in one of these very elegantly modern pre-fabs:
Original Plan
The long ends are facing North and South respectively (left and right) and hence the top of the plan is East facing and the bottom side is West facing. The western wall faces a private yard and hence a lot of windows were placed to maximize light and extend the interior space to the outside.
My fiancé and I spend most of our time in the living room so for our particular lifestyle opening up the kitchen, living and dining room would work best. We actually hardly ever use the dining table at our current place so I decided to break down the kitchen wall and make a large island around the stove for us and guests to eat at.
Modified Plan
One person could be watching tv in the living room and the other, just behind, working at the 'office space' in the original dining room -- we would still be sharing the same space and can see what the other is doing.
I noticed in a lot of the plans we perused and the few demos we were able to walk into, had these awesome jet tubs -- and since we were just recently in Japan, tubs have now become part of my dream home wish list ;) so here, in the master bath, I added ... The Jet Tub.
Another feature in the master bath that I added was a linen closet/shelf at the end of the shower. I'm impressed by the amount of storage closets one of the pre-fab companies we saw had; in every possible corner they added a fantastically useful storage closet. I assumed they've done so many iterations on the plans, they've gotten really good at optimizing the space wonderfully for the typical American family.
Another detail I never resolved in this fun little exercise is the entry.
In the original plan, there's a transition space before entering either the kitchen or living room via an archway to the kitchen and a corner wall from the kitchen/living room divider. I like this original transition although I'm just not a big fan of the kitchen not opening up to the living room.
Here are a few vignettes where I tried to study the experience to no avail of a satisfied solution...
Although in architecture school we often poo poo Sketch Up, it does have a great shadow analysis tool, especially with the integration of Google Earth.
In the shadow studies, it really showed how the entry coat closet can cast a large shadow in this otherwise very open plan and perhaps should be taken out in the next iteration of the design.
Note, this model did not have a roof so the shadows are not exactly accurate but in any case... :)
June 9:13 AM
June 11:00 AM
June 2:50 PM
June 4:16 PM
March 10:22 AM
March 11:40 AM
March 3:07 PM
North West Corner
June 7:32 AM
June 11:22 AM
June 1:09 PM
June 2:41 PM
June 3:35 PM
June 5:30 PM
June 6:24 PM
If you can't tell already, I love watching shadows move. :)
This last image of the house in dusk evokes nostalgia for me as a kid having observed the shadows danced across the room while I played with my Lego villages in the living room after a whole luxurious weekend afternoon...
Complete set of renderings can be found HERE.
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