House Of The Year: Green Fab, Pre-Fab
Green pre-fab is getting a lot of attention right now in New York City. Hop downtown to the Financial District, and you’ll notice, amidst the suits and skyscrapers, a peculiar exhibit. We’ll call it “a Pre-Fab grows in FiDi” – a humble little abode that looks ever so slightly as though it may have been pieced together in a factory. Well, it has. It’s a modular house designed and built by New World Home, and it’s Country Living Magazine’s “home of the year.”
The magazine’s pick last year was an energy-efficient mountaintop home in (fittingly) coal country, but this year’s pick is green head to toe: recycled elm wood (90% or more of which is sustainably harvested and third-party certified), zero-VOC paints and finishes, integrated water systems that can save up to 10,000 gallons a year. The list goes on.
New World Home makes lots of models – and lets you design your own, if you want to – but the one on display in downtown Manhattan is called the Hudson cottage. It’s a trim unit, in keeping with the company’s anti-McMansion ethos – two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms.
Keep an eye on the company for more green developments in the near future. New World Home is a member of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), and is right now working toward its goal of producing the first LEED Platinum certified pre-fab home in New York state. Think the trend will take off?
Visit the Financial District display through June 17th, and see if green pre-fab agrees with you.
