ALLISON ARIEFF wrote the book "Prefab" in 2002, chronicling the history of prefabricated houses and mapping the possible future of environmentally responsible modular home design and fabrication.
"When I told people what I was doing, they giggled," says Arieff, one of the founders of Dwell and formerly the magazine's editor. "Like, why would anybody write a book on this really mundane ugly architecture?"
Since then, the laughable increasingly has become laudable. On Saturday, Arieff will lead prefab designers Michelle Kaufmann, Jennifer Siegal and Rocio Romero in a panel discussion titled "The Four Women of Prefab" during the annual CA Boom show in Santa Monica.
Here, Arieff shares her opinions about the contemporary design movement she dubs "modern prefab":
Kit houses have been around since Sears Roebuck started selling them 100 years ago, and the Eames House in Pacific Palisades was built from off-the-shelf materials. Why has prefab become popular again?
One of my theories is that lots of people are dissatisfied with the housing stock and that this really promises an alternative. Most of the people I know bought the house they're in because that's what they could afford, not because it's the house they really wanted. Prefab could help deliver variety. I've spent a lot of time visiting housing developments over the last six months, and it's really thoroughly depressing, so the time is right to rethink things. Developers haven't really embraced this concept, but with the housing market so dire, people may be finally recognizing that there might not be such a great future in 10,000-square-foot McMansions.
What is "modern prefab," and what is the importance of making the distinction?
For the majority of people, the idea of prefab is still very much ugly, poorly constructed, cookie-cutter homes. I use "modern prefab" to distinguish from the thousands of tract houses that are built using prefab construction. In my mind, modern prefab suggests prefab homes designed by architects. These days, there is a financial and moral imperative to do things that are more sustainable, and the people who work in modern prefab are also the leading edge.
How has the movement and market changed in the six years since you wrote your book?
