Taft Residence: A Two-Story, Open-Plan House Built Using HOMB

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Located in Portland, Oregon, Taft Residence is a residential project of a 3,930-square-foot, two-story, open-plan house. This house is designed and built using a prefabricated modular system called HOMB that was developed by Skylab in collaboration with Method Homes.

HOMB offers an alternative to the typical time-consuming process of conventional site construction and minimizes waste through precision prefabrication as well.

There are 28 prefabricated modules used to build this house. Each of them is triangular-shaped, independent structurally with 100 square feet in size, and features integrated building systems and pre-installed finishes. The modules are capable of a wide range of assembly configurations and create an efficient system when fit together.

The building components for this house are divided and shipped to the site via a convoy of six trucks. Each of these trucks carries 600 square feet of prefabricated modular volumes. The foundation is completed prior to delivery so the on-site installation can be accomplished in a day.

The property is a modest 20 feet wide, sitting on a steeply sloping urban infill site. This house is wrapped with a blackened cedar rain screen that rests over two inches of rigid insulation plus blown-in insulation within the walls.

The open plan inside the house features a combined living, kitchen, and dining area, with four bedrooms and three-and-one-half bathrooms. The bright interiors consist of ample daylit spaces highlighting the exposed timber ceiling and hardwood floors.

The bathrooms are beautified with a custom hexagon tile and pattern that was set in the shop prior to delivery. Radiant in-floor heating, a heat recovery system, and a 6-kilowatt rooftop solar array are home systems installed on the rooftop.

Flow-thru planters are used to manage the stormwater from the roof. These planters are integrated into the landscape design to minimize site run-off. There is also an additional separate accessory dwelling unit built as a second phase for home storage and office.

The use of a systemized approach makes the house able to support a high degree of customization and minimize construction time and needless waste as well.

The result of this project is a unique house that is holistic in its solution, responsive to comfort, efficient in terms of construction, and mindful of the environment.