Modern Architecture Goes Prefab

"...the Resolution: 4 architects are quietly proving that even in the absence of mass production, modular housing is a plausible response to soaring construction costs, the scarcity of skilled labor and the reluctance of many contractors to undertake modern design. Mr. Tanney reports that Resolution: 4 already has more than a dozen such homes in the works in locales including Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, New York's Catskill Mountains and Long Island, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia. Although they won't cost $100 a square foot--the ideal embodied in the Dwell contest--Mr. Tanney says these houses can be built for about the cost of a quality traditional home, instead of the much higher cost of building one of his modern designs on-site. Says Mr. Tanney: 'We've been able to design some houses during an interview with a client.' "