This prefab home was designed with tradition in mind. It was constructed decades ago by house designer (and furniture designer) Jens Risom, after renting for years on a small, undeveloped island off of Rhode Island.
It was designed partly as a challenge, and partly out of a desire for tradition. The architect had been reading architectural magazines say that a summer house couldn’t be built for under $25,000, and he wanted to show that he could do it. Prefabrication was part of this economizing. On the other hand, he had been renting on Block Island with his family for years, and when he found a nice plot, he wanted to build something like the A-frame’s he had been in as a kid in Denmark.
He was also influenced by his architect father and his ideas about stamped-earth building.
Some notable features of this design: well, besides the location, it has a 20-foot ceiling, cedar shingles, and a wall of glass facing north (replaced recently with safety glass).
The yard is surrounded by low stone fences, which is common to the island.
It was built using prefab in an era when modular homes were not usually held up as ideals of style. The home designer researched various modular home building kits of parts, and found one that had his requirements (Stanmar, our of Massachusetts). The parts were brought in by truck and then by tug boat, then by flatbed on the island. Photos by Floto + Warner.
