Green Home Lands In Chicago, Literally (PHOTOS)

Square Root Architecture and Design built Chicago's first prefabricated green home last week.

Prefabricated homes are built in a factory controlled setting off-site and are delivered to their locations via a 220-ton crane. While off-site construction is taking place, on-site preparation of the foundation and utility work underway to speed up the construction process.

But this pre-fab West Town home is different from most. It is known as an urban C3 prefab home, which means it is eco-friendly, affordable and built to reduce energy and construction costs.

Some of the C3 home's features include individual room heating and cooling, solar thermal panels for hot water, recycled content construction materials, Energy Star appliances and more.

Take a look at the photos of the 40,000 pound home landing on its prepared foundation. The prefab home was completed within one day on the corner of Ohio Street and Noble Avenue.

Photos provided by Square Root Architecture and Martin Konopacki Photography.

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Comments

[Matthew Stannard]

11:58 AM on 11/18/2010

The image of the completed home is well designed. The boxy minimalist style will probably always have limited appeal to a wider audience.
Modular like other forms of Construction can be affordable or not affordable depending on the design, amongst other things. It would be interesting to know how much this home cost.
Matthew Stannard
Founder, CEO Stillwater Dwellings
www.stillwaterdwellings.com

[eric steven]

10:48 AM on 11/18/2010

The technology involved in building this is also, SO...20TH CENTURY!!! c ;(

[eric steven]

10:46 AM on 11/18/2010

The boxy neo-Bauhaus is hard to pull off...it easily turns out looking ugly.

To give them a break, I can't say that most people are aware (not knowing the history of architecture) of how formally ugly most stylistic mutts that have been built lately really are.

Then again, there are other types of prefab systems.

Looking at this house...I SEE WOOD!!! It's made of tree.

I am a concrete man, myself, regardless of the fact that concrete is energy intensive. In the future there should be no shortage of energy but there may be shortage of forest and arable land.

STOP BUILDING WITH TREE!!!

[BushBites]

01:48 PM on 11/18/2010

Yeah, I'm partial to concrete too.

Especially given Chicago winters.

Wonder if there's any quick-pour concrete houses?

That'd be cool.

[eric steven]

05:30 AM on 11/21/2010

There is a company in Naperville, IL that makes concrete wall on site and then delivers them. I think they have styro insulation in the middle of the poured stone. http://dukaneprecast.com/index.cfm
They do mostly bigger project. There was a row of condos/apts they put in a few years back in Evanston. Don't know about single family homes.

Otherwise, yeah, before the housing crash I was beginning to try to break into this market...

The systems are called ICF; insulated concrete forms. They can be custom designed and they are like big styrofoam legos that you pour concrete into.
Here is one company that makes them; http://www.rewardwalls.com/

[DandaPanda]

09:17 AM on 11/19/2010

really..stop it already! Concrete steel and glass way slicker. That being said good for them for doing what they did.

[eric steven]

05:40 AM on 11/21/2010

Well, my point was, I am not sure it's THAT much of an accomplishment.

When you look at the links in this article "Urban C3 Home" is basically a trademark, not a sanctioned design standard. So, this article is HYPE!

They built using TREE and I didn't hear any mention of solar panels...

So, they have nice, triple glass windows, thick insulation and well-designed/picked appliances...BRAVO! a spectacular departure from mediocrity!

The unique innovation is the marketing...nice flash website

[TXfemmom]

09:00 AM on 11/18/2010

One could make that house look very different on the outside.  Every house is, essentially, boxes arranged in one manner or another.  Building homes in weather tight environments, with less waste, better use of materials, better use of labor, and then making them just better would save tons of energy, make better homes, use labor and things more efficiently, and help us in the long run.

[johnnygoodwud]

05:05 PM on 11/17/2010

that sure fits in nicely with the neighborhood,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NOT. what an eye sore.

[nevertofarleft]

05:48 PM on 11/17/2010

No, its perfect! Anybody from Chicago, or has been to Chicago, knows we are one of the forefront cities on architecture, and welcome bold and innovative designs!

[stroobs]

08:46 AM on 11/18/2010

It's lovely. A helluva lot nicer looking than those generic brick 3 flats with the french door flanked by 2 small windows. That crap is everywhere.

[digitalkarate]

09:53 AM on 11/20/2010

As a matter of fact, although it's hard to tell from these pictures, there are many modern homes in the neighborhood. Architecture like any art from is aesthetically subjective. Whether you consider it an eyesore is entirely irrelevant - almost laughably so. For instance, I find victorian homes to be eyesores, but I wouldn't post it online as being a universal fact. It is my preference and unless it comes up in a discussion about MY tastes in architecture, I keep it to myself. Nobody asked you what you think of the design.

[JumpySnark]

04:36 PM on 11/17/2010

Now I'm just waiting for Rahm Emanuel to call the new homeowners "activist loons."

[Microtime]

03:26 PM on 11/17/2010

Finally! Prefab in Chicago!

[rougebaisers]

02:08 PM on 11/17/2010

Nice