Taliesin PreFab Studio: An Introduction

Looking across the wash to the building site

The Taliesin Students and their Dean Victor Sidy, in conjunction with Jennifer Siegal, founder and principal of the Office of Mobile Design, are working to design and build a 960 square foot prefabricated prototype on the grounds of Taliesin West. This project is being undertaken as an example of simple, elegant and sustainable living in the desert. There are nine undergraduate and graduate students who are working on the project; the project is slated to be completed in April 2008.

Pictured L-R: Katelyn Hudson, Nick Mancusi, Jennifer Siegal, Christian Butler, Jeff Graham, Erik Krautbauer

The dwelling is in the design development stage right now. Currently, students are using a transit to map out the contours of the site, researching new/inventive green materials to use for the project, finalizing the floor plan, and drafting a set of structural drawings. This promises to be an exciting project, which I (as a student at Taliesin) am pleased to share with the PrairieMod readers. I’ll be posting weekly updates on the project, including any unique materials that are found along the way.

Images copyright Nick Mancusi and Joseph Rorke

Comments

[Preston]

Hey, thanks for sharing your experience on this. I'm excited to read news as renderings and more details come from the project. :)

[eva]

I live at the bottom of the grand canyon, there is a village here, i am in the rehab business, homes were built down here with practice particle board back in the 70's & 80's, panel homes. The panel homes were brought down here piece by piece on helicopter. I understand these mod fab homes are easily transported via truck, curiosity aches me to know whether it would be feasible to bring these down here via helicopter. we are talking 900 to 1200lbs max. someone work with me here.

Eva