In the last blog entry (Electric Avenue) I laid out some nonsense that basically came down to me wanting an Electric Ford Mustang, and suggesting that compliance by motor companies to that end is the only way to get the rest of America to drive emissions-free vehicles. Well there maybe a modicum of truth to that statement in that visual design is a real important factor in the battle. Though the heart of the idea is more that, when "smart" products become viable options or when they exist side-by-side with the standard products where both aesthetics and pricing are concerned, I believe we'll begin to see more of a shift in consumer trends.

The same thought applies to modern housing as well. I have to admit I fell in love with IKEA when it hit my State a few years back. Well made, modern, often modular approaches to household furniture design. Clean lines, great colors, what more could a designer ask for? How about affordability? They got it! And now IKEA and several design and architectural firms have taken the next step to creating a more efficient sustainable future, by incorporating smart design into complete domicile structures.

Modular housing isn't a new idea by any means, but recent advances in affordable, energy efficient building materials and great design have brought a new, clean, modern flavor to the world of affordable housing.

Jenesys, a version of whose E Cube is shown above offers three different styles of structure, each with 3 floor plan variations.
Standard features of a Jenesys home include:

• Superinsulated walls and roof walls - 8 inch Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) (R 40)
• Roof - 6 inch SIPS plus 10 - 12 inches of batt insulation (R 60)
• Floors to crawl space-6 inch SIPS (R 30)
• Energy Star® windows - double-glazed, argon , low E
• Fibre-cement panel cladding - rainscreen application
• Passive solar heat gain
• Cross ventilation
• Exterior sun screens

Jenesys offers upgrades from triple glazed windows and solar collectors to bamboo or cork flooring.

Australian company, Quon, offers similar options. Quon's homes are assembled with self supporting walls made from super-strong, super-effecient, closed cell fire retardant, dressed with class 1 recycled timber. The company states "At Quon we prefer to assemble rather than build. Building is an inefficient process." They promises delivery in 10 weeks from date of order and equate the purchase process to that of buying a car rather than the purchasing or planning to build a home. While every modular component of each structure is size specific and priced individually based on the use for which it was designed - bathroom, master bedroom, open space etc. - the order in which you lay them out or stack them seems to be largely up to you.

IKEA's BoKlok brings a distinctly Scandinavian feel to the world of modular housing (surprise, surprise!) with an emphasis on small, well planned housing communities. Since 1997 with their now legendary clean, efficient design IKEA has built apartment buildings and small-scale communities in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and more recently the UK. It shouldn't take much to imagine how the interiors of IKEA's homes will be detail specific, logical, simple and even elegant, like most everything they do.