It has been an incredibly busy summer for Method. Since it is already beginning to rain again here in Seattle, we figured this is a good time to recap our Summer projects that are wrapping up. Here are a few of the highlights:In June, we set a Method Cabin Model 3 by Prentiss + Balance + Wickline Architects in Mattawa, Washington, along the Columbia River. The master bedroom module was slightly shifted and features a glass corner to capture views from the river. This project has many custom features including a cast iron soaking tub, built-in office nook, custom fireplace, and sliding louvres to shade the house from the desert sun while still allowing a cross breeze.
Right after setting the Columbia River Cabin, we built and installed a Method Cabin Model 2 on a bison ranch in Williams, Oregon. The cabin includes a custom office nook off of the living room. The office window was framed as a doorway that can connect a breezeway to another module for future expansion.
We recently completed our first Element Shift home with Elemental Architecture. The project is located in a wooded area that provides a great contrast to the home’s clean and modern look. More details and preview photos of the home can be seen here.
Mid-summer, the team and 6 modules made the trip to Girdwood, Alaska, for the set of a new three-story custom cabin designed by Prentiss + Balance + Wickline Architects. Click here to check out the time lapse video of the cabin being installed.Method Homes built a Cabin Model 1 on the East Coast in Schyuler, Virginia, a small town located at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountain Range. We are excited to announce more details about our East Coast work soon.
We built and shipped a custom home designed by Chris Pardo Design: Elemental Architecture to Victoria, B.C. The home features a light-filled artist’s studio and extensive custom built-in cabinets throughout. With the master suite and main living spaces situated on the second level, they capture views of the Haro Straight.
We have also been working on completion of the Taproot Theatre Annex in collaboration with The Miller Hull Partnership, along with many other projects set earlier in the spring.Be sure to check out our in progress section to view all of our homes and commercial projects in the works. We have exciting news about our upcoming construction schedule, including a number of homes in California, the East Coast, commercial work, and more, so stay tuned.
Last summer, Method participated in Seattle's Next 50 Celebration as part of the project team for the Habitat for Humanity House of the Immediate Future (Read more about thehouse concept here). The net-zero ready home was showcased during Seattle’s Next 50 Celebration at the Seattle Center and then disassembled to move to its permanent location. The home utilizes panelized wall construction, which allowed for a more streamlined assembly and deconstruction process for the Habitat for Humanity team to move the home to its final site.
Flash forward to May 2013: house materials and the Method-prefabricated wet cores (kitchen, bathroom, and electrical components) were shipped to the home's final site in the Dwell Development, an eco-community located in Seattle's vibrant Rainier Valley. Habitat volunteers have been working to complete the home over the course of the summer, and a dedication ceremony will soon be held to welcome the family to their new home.
Photos above – courtesy of Chi Duong of Miller Hull – show the home nearing completion in the Dwell Development (including shots of the HRV and mechanical systems in the wet core).
It has been an honor to be a part of the project team, including The Miller Hull Partnership, Habitat for Humanity, The Seattle Center, Energy Star Northwest, and Dwell Development, among many others.
We are working towards completion of the Peninsula Shift home, our first built example of the Shift Model from the Elemental Series. The Shift was designed by Elemental Design LLC and has generated a lot of interest since the early summer set.The home has a nice list of custom upgrade features: custom blonde Bamboo cabinetry with Caesarstone Blizzard countertops and matching Bamboo flooring, a 3-sided fireplace, custom bathroom tile and concrete double vanity bathroom sink, a barn door that expands two rooms, tongue and groove Cedar siding and decking, green roof, and rooftop decking, to name a few.Pictured in the gallery are detailed shots of the exterior Cedar siding and a peak at the kitchen, cabinetry, fireplace, and rooftop deck. One of the Shift's standout features is the cantilevered upper module that creates a breezeway between the home and the garage (also pictured).We look forward to sharing detailed finished photos of this project.
Method Prefab built the 21-module annex for Seattle’s Taproot Theatre Company that was installed in the beginning of April. Four months later, the 12,000 square foot project designed by The Miller Hull Partnership is slated for completion and will open its doors for the Fall, possibly with the official public opening in time for their December show.As of this week, interiors are nearly finished, with railings being put on the steel and glulam wood tread staircase and completion of the new scene shop. Cross-bracing has been installed on the front exterior and the the dark gray sil-leed siding on the bottom half of the South facing façade will follow. Pictures in the gallery above show the lobby with a tongue and groove accent ceiling, the installed chestnut orange cladding, detail of the new staircase, and the 85th street view of the theatre prior to cross bracing and lower siding being installed. We will continue to update on progress as we turn the corner to completion and keep you posted on Taproot's plans for unveiling their new space.
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.
