Prefab Modern

Copyright 2004, so I'm sure there's a newer generation of designs and concepts but I enjoyed this book, if they are still in business almost 10 years later in this type of field of offering I assume they are a good overall business. Making a Amtrak cruise there to see there houses first hand.

Great photo layouts and info. Has a slight moldy smell so hoping will air out outside and be ok.

really cool book has great ideas for prefab and really shows you what prefab is from back then up until now

I love this type of architecture.

I fully agree with one reviewer's (shawn murphy) comments. This book serves really good as a catalogue of what's available on the market right now (though not comprehensive enough). In general, the text focuses on customers' perspective, not from an architect's lense. Hence, you will know what you will get if you order these houses, but not enough information about the design philosophy and creative ideas behind these products. You can just pick up this book and skim through it at a bookstore. Write down the names of the houses and architects you are interested. Then google them for more information. For example, I am really interested in the cool Bombala Farmhouse on page 102, and two other houses designed by Collins & Turner. However, the text in the book did not tell me a lot about these designes. You can find more information on the architects' website. Another example: On page 122-123, the author described the House in the Woods designed by Resolution:4 Architecture. In fact, this very house is the winner of Dwell magazine's 1st Dwell Home Design Competition. You can find more detailed and thoughtful reports about this prefab design in two issues of the Dwell magazine (Oct/Nov 2004, and Dec 2004). That being said, the book also has several strengths. It does provide a lot of information considering the number of prefab houses and the future designs or concept houses featured in the book. The section of "constructing prefab" is informative, too. Overall, it is an okay book (maybe 3.5 star is a more appropriate rating). But, if you are a serious reader about prefab architecture, this is not a valuable book to purchase and collect for you library.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough...if you are interested in actually seeing livable houses that are prefab, this is the book for you. There are other books; but they are scholarly explanations of the genre. This book, just published, has incredible up to date information on about 50 houses you can order online(!)--today. And there's every style for every taste. For a full-time house, or especially for the weekender, these houses are perfect: Affordable and gorgeous. The design of the book really showcases how each house looks inside and out. If you want to live prefab, this is THE book for you.

Anyone interested in the current prefab housing design industry should have this book. If nothing else it is a guide to who is involved in the industry, their contact information and samples of some of their better designs. Great photography and basic floorplans make this book a must have for anyone interested in the subject.

This book is incredibly well-written (even poetically written in places), meticulously researched, and beautifully illustrated. It's written by a pro, not someone who just decided to write a book. The book "Prefab" by Alison Arieff was in fact literally written off of (i.e. plagerized) websites and from articles (check the text against the architect's website and you'll see paragraphs and paragraphs were literally lifted directly from the site, likewise articles on those architects.) This book is the real thing.

OK

Perfect

More architecture oriented.