Automated Builder February 2010 : Page 4

Setting the modular sections produced by All-American Homes at the Denver Aria project site. Eight homes are built to date with 106 planned for the redevelopment project in northwest Denver, CO. Michelle Kaufmann, AIA, LEED AP, known as a pioneer in engineered, eco-friendly homes, has produced a line of signature modular home designs beginning with the Glidehouse and the Sunset® and mkLotus. Photo by Cutter Cutshaw. BreezeHouse™, mkSolaire Blu Homes Will Produce mkDesigns with Fold-Out Modulars: Michelle Kaufmann Studio Launches Design of Eco-Friendly, Multi-Unit Projects By Robert Mendel, Freelance Writer Breezehouse™, mkLotus and mkSolaire. Kaufmann joined the Blu Homes advisory board and consults with the company on applying the MKD designs to Blu Homes’ fold- out modular technology. Kaufmann is known as a pioneer of the engineered housing movement as well as an advocate of green housing design and an architect who expresses her vision in modern designs. In 2002, Kaufmann founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a full service architectural firm specializing in sustainable design. The firm designed and built single-family and multi-family housing using factory-built modular technology. Kaufmann's mission is to make thoughtful, sustainable design more acces- sible by mass producing the homes thereby making them more affordable. Prior to founding her own firm Kaufmann was an associate with Frank Gehry Partners. She has been a lecturer and keynote speaker and she has taught at Iowa State Univer- sity and Woodbury University. Kaufmann homes have been showcased in the National Building Museum, the Vancouver Art Center, MOCAin Los Angeles and in the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Kaufmann was named Advocate of the Year 2009 by the National Associa- tion of Home Builders (NAHB). On her role with Blu Homes Kaufmann notes, “One of the issues is that Blu Homes uses a different technology than the standard modular sections that those designs were meant to 4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA—As a result of the 2008 finan- cial recession and the subsequent contraction of the building industry, Blu Homes, Waltham, MA, acquired the intellectual assets of Michelle Kaufmann’s mkDesigns (MKD), located here. These included the rights to the signature Glidehouse, Sunset® employ. So there will be some revising of those designs. The Blu Homes technology is an unfolding modular which allows shipping with less width. You can ship a 12-foot section that unfolds to a 20-foot space. The idea is to have a bigger space and reduce shipping costs. I always think you should design to the efficiencies of the building system so you’re really do- ing something with that technology.” In the Blu Homes modular system the house is completely built and assembled in the factory including dry wall and a finished interior and then disassembled and shipped to the site. This process is based on a modular system which employs fold-out capability. The frame is a steel and wood hybrid system with steel used for the structural components with hinging on the frame and wood used for interior walls. For the floor plan kitchen and bathroom are located on one side of the unit and the other side unfolds. Meanwhile, Kaufmann also has launched her new practice, Michelle Kaufmann Studio, which will focus on custom, net- zero energy homes, sustainable communities and eco-resorts. She says, “The current technology now is so fascinating that I ask ‘Why isn’t everyone doing this?’ Some architects say it’s fantastic, it’s the golden egg but some see it as selling out and minimizing their own work. I went into this business as more of a passion. It started when my husband and I were looking for a house and we couldn’t find anything green and affordable and it was really painful. So I started the business and it grew fast, from one person to 60 in two years. But we are on a mission to build a thoughtful, healthy, sustainable design that was accessible to people.” Kaufmann currently is working on one project in Colorado with eight homes finished and a total of 106 planned which www.automatedbuilder.com FEBRUARY 2010

Michelle Kaufmann Studio

Robert Mendel, Freelance Writer

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—As a result of the 2008 financial recession and the subsequent contraction of the building industry, Blu Homes, Waltham, MA, acquired the intellectual assets of Michelle Kaufmann’s mkDesigns (MKD), located here. These included the rights to the signature Glidehouse, Sunset® Breezehouse™, mkLotus and mkSolaire. Kaufmann joined the Blu Homes advisory board and consults with the company on applying the MKD designs to Blu Homes’ foldout modular technology. Kaufmann is known as a pioneer of the engineered housing movement as well as an advocate of green housing design and an architect who expresses her vision in modern designs. In 2002, Kaufmann founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a full service architectural firm specializing in sustainable design. The firm designed and built single-family and multi-family housing using factory-built modular technology. Kaufmann's mission is to make thoughtful, sustainable design more accessible by mass producing the homes thereby making them more affordable. Prior to founding her own firm Kaufmann was an associate with Frank Gehry Partners. She has been a lecturer and keynote speaker and she has taught at Iowa State University and Woodbury University. Kaufmann homes have been showcased in the National Building Museum, the Vancouver Art Center, MOCA in Los Angeles and in the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Kaufmann was named Advocate of the Year 2009 by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). On her role with Blu Homes Kaufmann notes, “One of the issues is that Blu Homes uses a different technology than the standard modular sections that those designs were meant to employ. So there will be some revising of those designs. The Blu Homes technology is an unfolding modular which allows shipping with less width. You can ship a 12-foot section that unfolds to a 20-foot space. The idea is to have a bigger space and reduce shipping costs. I always think you should design to the efficiencies of the building system so you’re really doing something with that technology.” In the Blu Homes modular system the house is completely built and assembled in the factory including dry wall and a finished interior and then disassembled and shipped to the site. This process is based on a modular system which employs fold-out capability. The frame is a steel and wood hybrid system with steel used for the structural components with hinging on the frame and wood used for interior walls. For the floor plan kitchen and bathroom are located on one side of the unit and the other side unfolds. Meanwhile, Kaufmann also has launched her new practice, Michelle Kaufmann Studio, which will focus on custom, netzero energy homes, sustainable communities and eco-resorts. She says, “The current technology now is so fascinating that I ask ‘Why isn’t everyone doing this?’ Some architects say it’s fantastic, it’s the golden egg but some see it as selling out and minimizing their own work. I went into this business as more of a passion. It started when my husband and I were looking for a house and we couldn’t find anything green and affordable and it was really painful. So I started the business and it grew fast, from one person to 60 in two years. But we are on a mission to build a thoughtful, healthy, sustainable design that was accessible to people.” Kaufmann currently is working on one project in Colorado with eight homes finished and a total of 106 planned which Mixes affordable and market rate housing. Another project is an Indigo resort in the Bahamas that will be a net zero energy project. The modular sections for the Colorado project is provided by All American Homes headquartered in Elkhart, IN with production facilities in Colorado, Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia. All American Homes, LLC, through its industry subsidiaries builds homes under the All American Homes and Mod-U-Kraf® brands. The All American Building Systems® subsidiary builds large-scale residential developments including apartments, condominiums, military barracks and large single-family communities. All American Homes feature green and energy-conserving options to clients throughout its list of floor plans. Examples of All American’s green homes are featured in the Smart Home: Green + Wired exhibit on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, IL (a design by Kaufmann based on the mkSolaire) and the Living Zero home on tour for the U. S. Department of Energy. The Denver community project is called Aria Denver and involves the redevelopment of a 25-acre campus in northwest Denver by the groups Urban Ventures and Perry Rose, designed by Kaufmann and Oz Architecture and the New Urbanist site planning firm of Calthorpe Associates. Formed in 1998, Urban Ventures, LLC has developed five unique communities on infill sites in downtown Denver. Perry Rose is the Denver office of Jonathan Rose Companies a network of mission-based real estate development and urban planning firms active in multiple regions throughout the country. Promotional materials describe the project as follows: ‘Aria Denver will provide a replicable model of environmentally, socially and economically responsible community development— one that creates a diverse, tight knit community with a sense of place and that increases residents’ health and the health of our environment. The development embraces the legacy of community improvement and environmental stewardship supported by the land’s previous owners, the Sisters of St. Francis.’ Not surprisingly, the combined list of smart design, ecofriendly materials and sustainable features is too long to enumerate here. Beyond a laundry list of ‘smart and green’ features Aria Denver will incorporate sustainable materials and methods to minimize energy and water usage as well as create a healthy environment. This reduces each home’s environmental footprint, while adding financial benefits in energy and water savings for homeowners. The homes will include elements of Michelle Kaufmann’s ‘Five Eco-principles.’ Kaufman says, “The construction part is fascinating so working in the factory with multiples is where the modular approach comes to life and the efficiencies sing, In the design phase I started to think; What is a sustainable community?’ How would we think about the spaces between the buildings? How can we encourage the residents to help one another and live in a more communal way? One answer would be green roofscapes where the residents could grow their own food. Since we’re doing solar, how could we encourage more proactive health care, organic cooking, a different health care model?” The Aria Denver project doesn’t locate market rate homes on one side and the affordable homes on another. Both have sustainable criteria and the houses look the same but some materials and features will be different in the two versions. Looking at the future, Kaufmann says, “I think in the next few years we may have a different lending model and a different appraisal model. Instead of saying ‘It’s a three bedroom, 3,000-sq. Ft. Home...’ They will say it’s a three bedroom home and look at how much healthier it is, how much energy is used, etc. It would be more like a nutrition label on foods where the item is evaluated in a different way. “We have to change how we design and how we build, “ she adds. “One thing that I’m aware of is that you have to unlock scale and volume to get true efficiencies. It’s tough to get scale going on one-off, single family homes. It is valuable to provide proof of concept – and we have done 51 homes to date – and I’m still thinking about single-family homes in terms of achieving this mission.”

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