The Coolest Thing at West Coast Green...
...had to be Michelle Kaufmann's mkLotus house--a 640SF prefab erected in Civic Center Plaza.
It seemed wider than the 14'-6" wide chassis would indicate, and fit and finish was above expectation.
The indoor/outdoor feel was a big deal. This is probably the hardest element to duplicate when your land costs require you to achieve higher densities.
Transportation of the cube turns out to be less of an issue than I thought--range is 400 miles @ $5/mi, a nice improvement over my previous150 mile heuristic.
It fomented all sorts of ideas--prefabbing kitchen/bath cores on higher density product >>
Resort development becoming more feasible because site construction unknowns are reduced.
Quicker mixed use>>Santana Row'ing retail because your time on site is now within the retail downtime [Jan to May] window.
Looks like the house is a zero energy house--we need to get all our projects to achieve this. The house is Green Point Rated by Build It Green.
Interested? Here is her book.
And the numbers? Per Justin Brown, bizdev guy for the firm, $110 PSF, not including foundation, decks, or hookups. TDC is probably ~$400PSF, about 10% less than site built right now.
