This was Studio 804’s first prefabricated house. It was built in modules in a warehouse near the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence Kansas and then shipped the 40 miles to Kansas City, Kansas. The five modules were all the same size and each housed a functional component of the house. First, was the living module, then the kitchen module, then a bathroom utility module followed by two modules that are bedrooms. The result is a streamlined 1,200 square-foot, two-bedrooms, one-bathroom house with a large cantilevered deck and a full basement with the potential for later development. The kitchen uses affordable but contemporary Ikea cabinetry and the appliances are all stainless steel. The bathroom walls are clad with salvaged aluminum and the floors throughout are rapidly renewable vertical grain bamboo.
The design limitations of prefabrication were ironically liberating for students. The fact that the modules had to be able to fit around street corners, under bridges and power lines and through the warehouse doors meant there were few options when it came to the building form.
The University of Kansas Department of Architecture invites applications for Studio 804, a comprehensive one-year, fully hands-on design-build experience for students who are at an advanced stage in their studies and committed to the continued research and development of affordable, sustainable and inventive building solutions. Students enrolled in Studio 804 work full time to design and build a new building every year. The widely-published program, under the direction of Distinguished Professor Dan Rockhill, has produced ten LEED Platinum buildings, three of which are Passive House-certified. To learn more, visit studio804.com and architecture. ku.edu/studio804. The university accepts transfers, 4+2 grads, B.Arch grads, M.Arch grads, or professionals — anyone who wants to be a better architect by having had the experience of designing and constructing a sophisticated building in its entirety from the ground up.
