Factory-built homes may be greener

Factory-built homes have a PR problem: Too often they conjure up the image of tiny, temporary dwellings that are poorly constructed and potentially dangerous.

But that hasn’t stopped an intrepid group of architects and builders from pushing new ideas in what they call “modular” housing that they say are the way to a greener future for the building industry.

This summer, two exhibitions of modular houses – at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) – are putting a spotlight on how off-site building techniques can shrink the carbon footprint of a new house.

Trailer parks have been associated with a low-cost way for the poor to put a roof over their heads. Last month the “FEMA trailers” distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans three years ago came under fire when high levels of the toxic chemical compound formaldehyde were detected in some of them.

Prefabricated houses have had a “checkered” history over the last 150 years, acknowledges Stephen Kieran, a founding partner of KieranTimberlake Associates in Philadelphia. His architectural firm is displaying its Cellophane House modular home as part of the MoMA exhibition “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling,” which runs through October.

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