Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Richmond.com, July 24, 2007

Some Assembly Required
A new exhibit at the Virginia Center for Architecture may change some people's minds regarding prefabricated housing.

When most people think of prefabricated housing, the descriptives bland, cheap and wide load are not far behind. But today's architects are re-imagining the design of manufactured homes as a more upscale, or at least, more livable option.

The Virginia Center for Architecture examines the current trend toward contemporary prefabricated and modular housing with its latest exhibit entitled "Some Assembly Required," which is on view and free to the public until Sept. 30.

Prefab homes are everything from factory-built kits of parts homes and modular units to mobile homes and houses that arrive fully assembled. Even some site-built homes that involve standardized parts and are labor-intensive can be considered prefab.

The multimedia exhibition offers a glimpse into the design and construction of eight modern modular house projects through animations, video clips, photography and material samples, as well as architectural assembly diagrams, drawings and scale models.

"I think a lot of times, people hear the word 'prefab' or 'modular housing' and they think about house trailers, and that as a stereotype is an image that is locked in a lot of people's minds," said Vernon Mays, the Center's curator of architecture and design.

(For the rest of the story...) Source: Richmond.com

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