Project Description
2007 RADA
Judges Award
This modular residence by Studio 804, architect Dan Rockhill’s student design/build program at the University of Kansas, barely touches the ground. The project sits on exposed-concrete piers, minimizing its impact on the land and paving the way for an energy-efficient insulation system of recycled cellulose. “We wrapped the building like a big burrito,” Rockhill explains. “I think, because we have to wrap the belly of it so tightly, we get a better performance thermally than we do with buildings on traditional foundations.”
He and his 20 students built the home’s six modules in a Lawrence, Kan., warehouse, then trucked them to Kansas City, Kan., and installed them on site. Before it even left the factory, the house sold for $165,000.
“It’s a straightforward, handsome structure,” said one judge. “I like the fact that it’s modular and it works.”