New EcoSteel house designs

There are variations on the 6040 House and 6030 House in design.

We are in the process of designing two variations of the 6040 House and 6030 House oriented towards the narrow dimension for placement on lots with a narrow-deep proportion. Both of the designs are rather luxurious in their program but are laying the ground work for more commodity designs.

The particulars of the setting where these will go have influenced the design solution in specific ways. These will be sited towards a view, which also happens to be along the street access side of their sites, and as such they are placed back on their lots to allow for private outdoor space in what is the front of the house. Sort of a backwards arrangement. To facilitate that the driveway and the entry are to the side of the houses.

The 6030n is a 3 bedroom design with a deep overhanging porch towards the view and private yard. The plan includes an open living/dining/kitchen area, 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, and an additional room for home office or media.



There is no garage in this design and we are providing a separate garage structure.



The 6040n is also a 3 bedroom design, with integral 4 car garage - yikes! This house flips the living space to the upper floor to better take in the view. It includes an open plan living/dining/kitchen area, 3 bedroom including 2 master bedrooms, 4 baths, and like the 6030 a room for home office or media.





We expect to be creating unique plan variations on these shells for customers on a design to suit basis. Development of these designs will be offered via the new EcoContempo Portal.

Technorati Tags: 6030 House, 6040 House, ecosteel, prefab house

6040 House gets a Web Site!

A setback on the site approval but progress on the web site
Good News! The official web site for the 6040 House has launched and you can see it right now:

http://www.6040house.com

The site has some interesting features. There is an interactive color picker which works in the same manner as many new car web sites where you can choose a color for various parts of the house and see it update live. There is also a 360 degree interactive model of the house so you can look at it from any angle.

I have to clarify after reading some of the comments: I did not create the web site! This was done by a web author working for Northern Steel. I pitched in the artwork of the house, and the 360 piece, but all the rest is their work.



And the bad news is our prototype site has fallen through, or more specifically defeated by an unsympathetic HOA. Northern felt it was better to back off than to build bad will with neighbors so we are back to looking for a site. There are several strong leads with potential customers right now so we are not sure if the original prototype will be the first in the ground. We'll see.

Technorati Tags: 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house, prefab house

6040 House gets a web page

A new web page showing schematic views of the prefabricated steel house.

I created a page with the images of the 6040 House because Fabprefab asked if we would like to see it listed in the FabZone on their site. I wrote a description and pulled together all the images so there could be something to link to from a FabZone listing. The floor plans of the prototype are presented here for the first time, note that I was not involved in the planning of the house and worked on the facades as described on the page. Also presented for the first time are images and floor plans of a study scheme prepared to utilize the same structural frame as the prototype.



Freed of the prototype's floor plan we were able to explore more of the potential of this approach.

Technorati Tags: 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house

Another image of the 6040 House

a design study for a steel house

I have been adding a bit more detail today so I thought I would post another image, this time of the front of the house.

Technorati Tags: 6040 House, ecosteel, modern design, modern house

A design study for a new Steel House

A study for a modern steel house - a new prefab entry.

This is a facade study for a house design that I am currently engaged in. It is a large four bedroom house with two master bedrooms that I am working on as a design consultant to Northern Steel, a international metal building manufacturer. The prototype will be built this winter and could be in production immediately afterwards. The house will be built using their EcoSteel system. They have encouraged me to post more information about the system so I have revised this blog entry.

Northern Steel has taken the initiative to adapt metal building conventions to residential design. Their "EcoSteel" system as it is called leverages standard metal building construction for use in the relatively light residential construction setting. This allows them to extend the efficiency that is practiced in this kind of commercial construction. In their words:

Northern Steel has recently launched their new patent pending EcoSteel Building System, which utilizes pre-engineered commercial materials in the design.

The new EcoSteel System is best used in contemporary or "loft style" projects where there is no need to cover up the steel structure.

The benefits over traditional lumber construction are compelling. Cutting down trees to build homes is an outdated and unsustainable method of building. Not only is the construction time reduced with an all steel residence, you eliminate termites and exterior maintenance. Toxic Mold and Home Fires are virtually eliminated. This all adds up to a more balanced environment with a higher interior air quality.



I am collaborating with Northern to develop modern designs utilizing the EcoSteel system as we all agree that it is a natural for the given construction aesthetic of the system.

We don't have all the details yet as we are still working through this. Browse through the rest of the site and I think you will get a feeling for their business. You can see their traditional cottage products at their site http://www.ecocottages.com I think this is a unique entry into this modern prefab movement. They already prefabricate and erect metal buildings nationwide so there is no warm-up period. Everything is in place and it should scale up immediately as demand warrants. I am interested in your feedback however and I can direct interested parties to the manufacturer.

Technorati Tags: ecosteel, 6040 House, modern house, house plans, Porch House