Method recently made the 1,500 mile trip with our modules and set crew from the factory to Alaska to set a 2,500 square foot custom cabin. The mods were barged from Seattle to Anchorage and then shuttled piece by piece to the site in Girdwood.The home is located near Alyeska Ski Resort and was designed for a family of downhill and cross-country skiers and captures views of Alyeska and surrounding peaks. It is our first custom cabin designed by our partners Prentiss + Balance + Wickline Architects, who we have worked with on a wide range of our Cabin, SML, and M Series homes.The 3-story cabin consists of 6 modules stacked side by side and took one day to set. Our clients were on set and shared some of their great photos. Click the photo above to jump to the gallery.
Architects have long envisioned housing prefabrication as a means to improve design and reduce costs. Frank Lloyd Wright designed his American System-Built homes, seven models of modest houses using precut materials intended to be affordable, between 1912 and 1916; his Usonian houses, about 60 middle-income, L-shaped single-story houses without basements or attics and using simplified construction techniques, in the 1930s; and his mobile home in 1955. Stimulated by Bauhaus thinking, architects thought prefabs were the ideal way to rationalize the building process, achieve economies of scale, and bring good design to the masses. But the manufactured housing format that would win widest acceptance was the trailer. Architect-designed prototypes seldom have been reproduced at scale.
Method is pouring foundation for a Method Cabin Model 1 in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountain range in Virginia. The cabin will sit on a full height site-built lower level that will house the client's drive-in workshop. The cabin is now underway in our East Coast manufacturing facility and the set is scheduled for later this Summer. We are now building select projects on the East Coast out of the new factory. Stay tuned for details.
The Method team recently went to California for the annual Dwell on Design Conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Our Paradigm I prefab by Bogue Trondowski Architects was front and center in the Dwell Outdoor area. We also had a custom birch and walnut booth with a specialty CNC cut logo designed and built by Method’s master craftsman Derek Raedeker. Paradigm was furnished with jc penney’s new designer home line that features modern collections from Jonathan Adler, Sir Terence Conran, and 2013 Dwell on Design keynote Michael Graves.Method co-founder Brian Abramson sat on the prefab panel with Dwell Editor Aaron Britt to discuss upcoming projects and the making of the deeply sustainable Paradigm prototype, and we even got a chance to look around at some of the highlights from the well-curated show. Thanks to Dwell and everyone else from the team for making this year’s show a great success.Click on the photo above to view the gallery.
Over the weekend, Design Milk headed to Los Angeles for the hottest modern event in the West: Dwell on Design. If you have been with us long enough, you’ll know I haven’t been there since 2008 (although we’ve been since then in spirit and touched on it last year)! Over the past few years, we’ve been very lucky to share the Dwell exclusive house tours. You can see this year’s tours being shared over the next two weeks right here. Now, hold on to your hats, ladies and gentleman—this is a long one! Design Milk reviews their top picks from Dwell on Design 2013.
See the full list of Design Milk favorites from Dwell on Design 2013
Last November, Method unveiled the prototype for the Paradigm Series, a new line of efficient, modern, and sustainable prefab homes designed by Bogue Trondowski Architects.Method is now offering the exclusive opportunity to purchase the fully loaded Paradigm Series home prototype. This high-tech, deeply sustainable 700sft prefab is perfect for a primary residence, office, guesthouse, retreat, work studio, winery suite, and more.Finishes include sustainably harvested FSC wood and bamboo throughout, a custom Italian furniture package that includes a built-in couch, murphy bed, adjustable office area, dining room set, and full modern kitchen complete with appliances.View the Paradigm Photo GalleryFeatures:• 400 sqft composite deck• FSC Bamboo Flooring and Cabinets• FSC certified Western Red Cedar siding• ENERGY STAR® Appliances• Super Insulated Building Envelope with Rockwool Insulation R31 Walls, R48 Ceiling• Western Windows Multi-Slide Window Wall• Cascadia Windows tilt and turn triple insulated window and front door• Built-in mechanized blind system with blackout and mesh screen options• Ductless Mini-Split for Heating/Cooling• Juno LED Lighting• Hansgrohe Plumbing Fixtures• Duravit dual flush Toilet• Curbless shower with infinity drain• Flush Trim detailing• Squak Mountain Stone Eco Countertops• Hybrid heating/cooling pump hot water heater• Fire Sprinkler System• Panasonic ERV• Plumbed for greywater reuse system• Home automation system• Zero VOC interior paints & low VOC finishes• Rainwater collection and filtering for domestic use• Solar readyThe Paradigm home is permitted and inspected for California and Washington with reciprocity in other states and is starting at $150K dependent on accessories, location, and scope of work. Pricing is also available for site prep and installation.The home will be showcased at the Dwell on Design conference in Los Angeles June 21–23.For inquiries on purchasing Paradigm I, including setting up an appointment to tour the home during its visit in Los Angeles, contact info@methodhomes.net – serious inquiries only please.
Late Spring has been busy for Method. In mid-May, we unveiled the SEED Classroom prototype in downtown Seattle with our partners the SEED Collaborative. The Classroom is targeting the Living Building Challenge and has been receiving a great response throughout the Living Future unConference and beyond. SEED will be open for public tours in Seattle through mid-June and has already been visited by hundreds of students, teachers, school officials, and the public.The day after delivering SEED, Method headed out to the desert of Eastern Washington to set a Cabin Model 3 on the bank of the Columbia River. The following week, we set the first Elemental Shift project in Olalla, Washington.Our other projects currently in production include a custom three story cabin by Prentiss + Balance + Wickline Architects that will head to Girdwood, Alaska, a Cabin model 2.1 headed to a bison ranch in Williams, Oregon, and a customized Element 4 by Chris Pardo Design: Elemental Architecture that will head to Victoria British Columbia. Method is also working on homes in the Channel Islands of BC, Sonoma, Seattle, Mercer Island and Portland, amongst others.This month we are also headed down to Los Angeles for Dwell on Design where our Paradigm Prototype will be showcased.We have a full schedule through the summer, so stay tuned to see finished photos and video from our upcoming events and projects.
