Blue Sky Homes, the green building company whose prototype property was featured in Dwell magazine earlier this year, is set to commence its next project in January, with others in various stages of development. In addition, noted architects such as Linda Taalman & Alan Koch–the couple behind the famed, off-the-grid itHouse–have begun using Blue Sky Homes’ revolutionary Blue Sky Frame (patent pending) as the foundation for their own designs. Taalman-Koch have two current projects using the Blue Sky Frame: the Clearlake itHouse and the itHouse Cabin, both under construction in California. More images and description after the break.
The reason the Blue Sky Frame is so attractive to clients and architects alike is twofold: echo-friendliness and speed of building.
SPEED: The frame is made of cold-formed, light-gauge, galvanized steel (as opposed to the traditionally used wood and/or structural steel). Unlike most prefab homes, all the steel elements (which are manufactured with up to 70% recycled metal) are factory-fabricated and shipped flat to the construction site, where—erector-set-like—they’re rapidly bolted together without expensive site-welding or waste. The entire frame goes up on Day One without a dumpster in sight! The house is weatherproof and ready for interior work by Day Five, and construction is complete within six to eight weeks.
GREEN: Each house in the Blue Sky Homes online catalog also comes with a multitude of ultra-green options. (An added green/speed bonus is that the Blue Sky Home is especially adept in steep or rugged terrain, with the entire house being able to sit on just a few steel columns, avoiding expensive, destructive, and time-consuming earth work—and making any floor plan possible since no interior walls are load-bearing.)
Simply put, nothing is built faster, stronger, greener, more flexible, or more durable than a Blue Sky Home.
