Instant Suburb of Prefabs Hits New York
By Andrew Blum
Tourists press up against the construction fence on the corner of 53rd and Sixth, staring speechless as a giant crane lifts an entire bathroom into the air and deposits it in what will be a master bedroom. Cellophane House is five stories tall, with floor-to-ceiling windows, translucent polycarbonate steps embedded with LEDs, and exterior walls made of NextGen SmartWrap, an experimental plastic laminated with photovoltaic cells. Its aluminum frame was cut from off-the-shelf components in Europe, assembled in New Jersey, then snapped together in 16 days on a vacant lot next to the Museum of Modern Art — joining four other full-size houses onsite through October as part of the exhibit Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. It looks as if a suburban cul-de-sac took a wrong turn at the Holland Tunnel.
On September 15, NPR’s Morning Edition featured a segment detailing The Museum of Modern Art exhibition Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. A conversation with assistant curator Peter Christensen covers the rich history of prefabrication and the five full-scale prefab homes, including our Cellophane House, currently on view at the Museum.
In July 2007, KieranTimberlake was selected by Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation as one of fourteen firms to design safe, affordable, and environmentally sensitive housing to rebuild New Orleans’ Katrina ravaged Lower 9th Ward. Construction at 1744 Tennessee Street, the site for our first house, began on July 1, 2008; homeowners are scheduled to move in during September. John Williams Architects of New Orleans is the Executive Architect responsible for construction documents and administration.
This is a construction update of our Make It Right House in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, shot by Doug MacCash, the New Orleans Times-Picayune art critic. It features an interview with John Williams, the Architect of Record for the Make It Right projects. We are happy to pass along the news that the MIR houses came through Hurricane Gustav with flying colors.
