1859 Sept | Oct 2018

Photos: skylab
An Energy-Efficient Modular Home in Portland
LIKE THE MANY 100-year-old bungalows on this
Northeast Portland block, this new home also started
with a basement foundation. But that’s where the
similarities end. On a sunny fall morning in 2012,
semi-trucks arrived at the site to offload the rest of
the house. They were soon assisted by giant cranes
to lift and stack six angular modules into place, while
a crowd of onlookers gathered on the sidewalk to
observe the progress. “By 4 p.m. the whole house was
there, which was a remarkable thing to watch,” said Jeff
Kovel, architect and principal of Skylab Architecture.
“There’s nothing there in the morning, and then a
house is there in the evening.”
In 2009, the Seattle-based prefab company Method
Homes contacted Kovel to design a modular scheme
suitable for city infill lots. It was the recession, the
building world was in chaos, and Kovel had the
bandwidth. “We wanted to be able to provide a custom
architectural solution through a more accessible process
and hopefully at a more accessible price point,” he said.
His firm devised, essentially, a “set of building blocks”
composed of 100-square-foot triangular modules,
which can be combined and customized in a range of
floor plans that respond to a variety of site conditions.
“We had seen in the prefab market that there were a
lot of standard floor plans that may or may not fit the
site really well, so we wanted to move beyond that
limitation,” Kovel said. He and Method have since
dubbed the system HOMB in a combination of the
word “home” and the honeycomb aspect of combining
modules, with the Portland installation the prototype.
The triangle shape serves a dual purpose. For
starters, it’s the “strongest shape,” making it wellsuited
to truck transportation or being hoisted in the
air by a crane. “They can’t flex as much. That flexing
would theoretically pop the grout out of the tile or
put cracks in the drywall,” Kovel said. Being able to
deliver a building in such a complete state means
project timelines can be buttoned up more quickly.
The Portland home only took six or seven months
from basement excavation to move-in, which is
several months less than a normal house build might
need. The triangle shape also serves up a dramatic,
almost iconic, form. “We liked how they help break
up that boxy modern look that’s so common in
prefab,” Kovel said.
Part of the owners’ brief was for a sustainable
home, which the prefab process is well-positioned to
deliver. Construction waste is significantly reduced
since the home is built off-site in Method’s Ferndale,
Washington, factory, where off-cuts and excess can
be saved and used on other projects. The controlled
conditions eliminate exposure to the elements and
potential moisture problems. According to Skylab,
the home’s exceptional insulation values and highperformance
building skin deliver energy savings of
roughly 40 percent over homes built to code. Plus, the
rooftop is ready for a solar array. Efficient mechanical
systems complete the picture, as well as low-VOC
finishes for improved indoor air quality. Said Kovel:
“Prefab in general is just a tighter, greener approach
to building.”
FROM LEFT The
triangular modules
from Method
Homes. The interior
is light and airy.
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2018 1859 OREGON’S MAGAZINE 75