Friday, January 16, 2009

January 2009 articles about the iHouse:

Clayton Homes modern green i-House from Jetson Green by Preston Koerner

Two articles/discussion threads about the iHouse, from Treehugger:

Trade in 250 iPods, get yourself a 1,000 sq. ft. iHouse? by Brian Merchant of Brooklyn.

Thoughts on Clayton's iHouse by Lloyd Alter of Toronto, a former worker in prefab design.

After reading the latter article, might be a good time to remind people that the Brits and Canadians use the term "Park Model" to mean any manufactured home that will be placed in a park. Here in the U.S. "park model" is a specific term used to refer to a home of 400 sq. ft. or less that has a special classification as an RV, and can can be placed in an RV park, a special park for "park models," or on private land if zoning allows a person to live in an RV. While zoning allows doublewide manufactured homes in many areas, most of the areas zoned for manufactured homes will not allow "park model" RVs.

Clayton's I-House: Prefab Green Homes Get Affordable from Popular Mechanics, by Glenn Reynolds

This Popular Mechanics article presents some new information; that the house will be offered as a basic unit, with an option of rooms that can be added on -- like the "flex" room -- and can even be configured to go on a hillside with the extra rooms on different levels. I also like the photo of the kitchen/living room, with this article, as it looks very natural, with sunlight coming in. Also mentioned is the innovative marketing Clayton will do, through Ikea.