Posted on 12/15/2004 4:50:26 PM PST by Lorianne
In an effort to keep low-quality manufactured houses from being built in Dallas neighborhoods, the Dallas City Council approved a policy prohibiting the placement of prefabricated housing on properties sold by the city of Dallas for deed-restricted affordable housing.
According to Doug Dykman, assistant director of housing for the City of Dallas, the measure passed without opposition. It was brought to the floor, everyone agreed, and it passed, he says.
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At a time when the design media, along with a growing group of architects and design enthusiasts have been looking towards modular housing as a way to offer modern homes to a clientele who appreciate modern design but cant typically afford an architect-built home, this new policy has generated waves.
Its ironic that Dallas would do this at the same time other cities are embracing quality prefab as a solution to affordable housing, says Michael Sylvester, editor of fabprefab.com, a Web site dedicated to promoting modern modular design. Sylvester cites the University of Kansass design/build studio, Studio804, and its latest project, Modular1, as a case where a group worked with the city and accomplished a prefab program that offers an inexpensive, well-designed modular housing option.
According to Studio804s leader, Dan Rockhill, the Modular1 project could never have been accomplished without an advocate at City Hall. In Rockhills case it was Scott Murray, an urban planner in Kansas City, Kansas. Murray convinced several city groups that the Modular1 project was a unique solution. He agrees that it wasnt easy, and having access to the internal departments was crucial. Without someone working from inside the city to promote these types of projects, says Murray, its like pushing a rope uphill. Most people think prefab housing means cheap mobile homes. It takes something as thought-out and high-quality as the Modular1 project to change their minds
This reminds me of a 1945 song with the stanza, "We'll settle down near Dallas, in a little plastic palace; Oh it's not as crazy as you think."
PING
Doug Dykman? He must be very frustrated.
Never worked before. Won't work now.
Construction estimates based on today's costs excluding the land it's built on, would be around $30,000 complete if reproductions were tooled up for with new forms and molds. That's with wiring, plumbing, kitchen, and garage too. The homes are hurricane proof and almost double as bomb shelters since the walls are 12" thick reinforced concrete.
Traditional housing construction in America is about to go thru a renaisance. Those old concrete homes of Wright's are going to be standing tall a thousand years from now. I think stone and brick as actual structure and not just facing is going to return. Match stick housing is a joke.
wazup with metal framing?
The peoples republic knows what is best for the masses!!
That's true. Pre-fab panelized systems are much more structurally sound that typical baloon-frame construction.
Won't survive an ACLU suit.
Well, snooty-snoot-snoot to them.
Where I live, the rich get ahold of a chunk of land that is so expensive the hobbledehoy couldn't afford a lot there. Then they build their mansions and don't have to worry about zoning out the, you know, filthy little commoners.
To build a true stacked stone home, over 80,000 stones must be split. The foundation footings must be able to withstand several tons per inch and be at least three feet wide. That said, that home will still be standing five hundred years later. It's interior may have been gutted and redone many times over, but the structure itself will last forever.
Wright noticed the labor intensive cost/benefit ratio of such massive structures and thought correctly that the same immortal dwelling could be built using more modern, but not expensive technology. The possibilities today are endless. I like the idea of concrete panels on slabs. Panels could be doubled up with foam pumped into the gap for insulation. The ductwork could be formed inside the walls. PVC pipes as conduit for wiring would be part of the roof slab with service coming from above. As long as any residential fire does not exceed the softening point of the rebar in the roof, even fire will not destroy such a home. Just gut it, clean it, and reappoint it. Interior walls are just cosmetic.
a friend of mine is building spec homes and he is paying $80 per sq ft. He thinks he can lower that and have a better house with metal. In his way to Mexico (shhhh) to visit a factory.
None of the dome-homes in Florida were damaged by the hurricanes.
Are the 77 million baby boomers going to live in $500,000 houses on their average Social Security checks of $1000/mo?
I've seen rough poured panel walls with masonry tabs and the footings leaving an eight inch outside lip for stone facing. A crew of stone guys can stone face the house in a week. The result is indistinguishable from stack stone walls three feet thick from the outside. A nice green enameled, seam folded, steel roof is quite attractive. No need for slate, asphalt, copper, or tile. The steel looks super. A guy near me even built a systern about a hundred feet from the house for his non-pottable water needs which represent about 95% of the water consumed in a household. Why chlorinate and treat 100% of your water when 95% bypasses consumption and goes right into the sewer! The rainwater needs no softening either. All his gutters dump into a main pipe which runs downhill to the tank. He had a frog problem for a while until he screened over his overflow vent. It holds 8,000 gallons. He used an old milk truck stainless bulk tank. His grey water from showers, bathing, dishes, and such goes right back out into another tank he uses for watering his garden. If it gets too full he just lets it spill over. It's not sewage so who cares?
I dunno. I've watched suburban sprawl and driven down mortgage rates put a lot of people into big pricey homes who cannot really afford them. I see a complete collapse of the housing sector in the next decade. The sooner the better IMHO. Do away with tax deuctability of mortgage interest too. You'll see housing prices drop back to affordable levels and the murderous desire to "pull equity" out of your home because you just needed to have a new house, and a hot tub, and a jet ski, and a bass boat, and a summer cottage to get away from the home in order to destress over all the debt you racked up by pulling equity out of your home.
Boy that sounds great. I've always wanted to build a stone house. I also like standing seam metal roofs (they are also outlawed in many HOA regulations). Metal roofs with clip systems survive hurrican winds very well, provided they are greater than 4:12 pitch.
Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame spends most of his time building dry stacked walls for people in Italy. He's a genius at it. I once got to admire his handiwork when on a trip there. I photograph the stone dwellings in any town any time I see a different stone type or construction style.
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