Garrison Architects creates their green modular home designs from their DUMBO studio in Brooklyn, NY.  Their ‘Red Hook Zero Modular’ design (pictured above) features wind and solar installations, energy-efficient HVAC and appliances.  The 4,000 square foot home/office which is designed to be a net zero energy building (ZEB), is expected to be completed in late summer 2010.

The small footprint ‘Tread Lightly’ prototype (above) was created for an environmentally sensitive location next to wetlands.  The structure is envisioned as a prefabricated, factory-built modular home to reduce cost and facilitate rapid production.  Sheep are extra.

The ‘Koby Cottage’ (above) was designed and created for use by visiting families and children at the Starr Foundation located in Albion, Michigan.  The prefab modular plan features two intersecting diagonal axis centered around the dining room table – a traditional family meeting place.  The home’s weld factory-built frame features large windows and a roof deck to provide extensive exposure to nature and the environment.

Need to add a reading room, yoga studio or mini-office to your home?  How about a factory-built prefab addition? Texas-based Interloop designed this prefab addition for a client who wanted to expand his home by attaching a reading room to his master bedroom and more fully appreciate the surrounding trees and yard.

Living suspended in the trees – if that’s your idea of freedom then these Free Spirit Spheres may be just the alternative habitat for you.  Free-thinking Canadian designer Tom Chudleigh has incorporated bio-mimicry into his design and manufacture of these spherical little dwellings which he suspends in trees via ropes and cables.

You can order a wooden or fiberglass sphere (they’re handmade and not cheap – $15ok) or rent one – (there are 3 units) on Tom’s property in the forest just north and west of Vancouver -  for roughly $125 – $190 per night.  By the way — no kiddies under 16; and though there is electricity, plumbing is rustic – note top photo above, lower left corner – the outhouse.

Definitely for free spirits who want that primordial connection to nature.

Designer Edgar Blazona and his company, Modular Dwellings, created this little prefab home for those with simple needs and a taste for clean, no-baloney design.  This tiny 208 square foot structure packs a bedroom, living space, full kitchen and separate bath – under a space-enhancing, 9-foot ceiling.  The whole deal fits on one truck and can be delivered with ease.

If you’re a clutter junkie this little guest house or backyard office probably isn’t for you – no room here for two cars, 3 kids, a dog, 4 pet turtles and a 4,000 piece Hummel figurine collection – for those trying to downsize, commute to work on a bike, consume less or build an inexpensive guest house, this just might be your eco-friendly solution.

Related:  previously on altCon

take a peek at our Prefab Category

Take the best attributes of prefab construction and trick them out with a variety of customized green components – that’s what L.A.-based Sander Architects has been doing for quite some time.  Their Hybrid House concept is home design they’ve developed over the last few years using a prefabricated metal frame, skin and roof.  The design offers major economies by using prefabricated building (warehouse) fabricators to manufacture the most expensive parts of the houses at a fraction of normal costs.  These part prefab,  part custom residences offer a “best of both worlds option” in green home building.

The home featured in this post is the Residence for Briard – the greenest Hybrid House Sander has built.  Green approaches and materials include: greywater systems, passive heating and cooling strategies, cistern to capture rainwater for watering the landscape, recycled blue jean insulation, sunflower seed wall board, bamboo flooring, marmoleum, structural steel frames from recycled steel, and a bunch more.

Residence for a Briard came out of conversations with the owners who found an old bungalow in Culver City which they initially envisioned as a renovation.  After discussions with architect Whitney Sander they realized that they could take advantage of his Hybrid House to build a ground-up duplex for only slightly more than the proposed budget of the renovation.

A big issue – accommodating the design needs of the client’s huge dog (a Briard – for which the home is named) which influenced many of the home’s design components – from stair design to finishing materials.

Project cost:  $500,000 — 3,800sf @ +/- $130sf; (includes site prep, foundation, hookups, all construction hard costs).

Simple, elegant Scandinavian design – this single story prefab home is located on Muskö Island in Sweden.  The living room and kitchen lie betwixt the two bedrooms, which are positioned at either end of the home.

It is the second home that design firm Claesson Koisvisto Rune has created for the Arkitekthus catalog.  The guest house and sauna (essential) were designed and created specifically for this client.

see more CKR designs @ ckr.se

Tired of living in a box? Do you possess a great building site that just screams for a way to capture its magnificent 360° view?  Prefab round home builder Deltec Homes has been building prefab round homes for years – and green ones, too.

The ‘Windsor’ design (pictured above & below) features 2000 sq. ft. per level, an 800 sq. ft. garage and is set on a Superior Wall basement.  This home, which is located in Harrisonburg, VA, has a bunch of  other green features, including: photovoltaic solar panels, radiant floor heating, recycled denim insulation, light colored shingles, soy foam insulation and 2×6 walls.

The roof of the connector supports six solar collectors which drain down into a 500 gallon water storage tank which supplies heat to the radiant floor heating system and also pre-heats water for the hot water heater.  The 12 Photovoltaic panels on the south roof have the capacity to generate 4.8 KWH of electricity.  All that green and all that view…

Transportable, sustainable, equipped with solar, wind power systems and featuring a green roof and side panels – there’s a lot going on with this conceptual living space.   ECObitat, a prefab structure, envisioned and designed by Felipe Campolina, won second prize at the “Something Green Challenge“.

It’s based on a modular system that can be scaled and expanded on – creating flexible living, or office areas, for multipurpose use.  The modules can be progressively coupled together and expanded and are designed for ease of transport.

The modular and repetitious form allows maximum efficiency, and economies of scale in manufacturing.  When transported to its new home, legs telescope out from the base of the structure optimizing adaptability to varying topographies and creating minimal site disruption.

Here’s a stylishly small footprint kit dwelling from a company called FabCab out of Seattle, Washington.  The accompanying photos were taken of a FabCab model that was featured at the Seattle Home Show earlier this year.

FabCab’s ADU (accessory dwelling unit) designs range in size from 300 to 800 square feet and are designed for small living situations like: guest cottages, in-law apartments, home offices, artist or yoga studios, or just your own space in which to get away from it all.

The cabin pictured here is a 538 square-foot unit with an open kitchen, living space, bedroom, and bathroom – all for a price of around $85,000.

FabCab builds their cabins with locally sourced, sustainably harvested Douglas Fir, low-VOC paints and finishes, and water efficient fixtures and components.

via: greenblogmedia.com photo credit: fabcab