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FeedBlue Sky Homes Build Green and Fast
Palm Springs-based Companies Explore Pre-Fab Blue Sky Homes
Graham house pre-construction site.
Blue Sky Homes
Music enthusiast Gordon Graham is treating himself to a very big birthday present this year, and we’re not talking tickets to Coachella. While the Canadian does plan to attend the sold-out event in mid-April, as he has done for the last few seasons, the real gift is a 1225-square-foot weekend retreat. The married father of three is building his new abode amid giant, weathered boulders and ancient junipers in a pristine corner of Hi-Desert’s Yucca Valley, near Joshua Tree National Park. Construction is slated to start on Valentine’s Day, and if all goes as planned, Graham will be sleeping there in his own bed by his April 10 birthday.
How a dwelling can go from dream to reality in eight weeks lies in Palm Springs-based Blue Sky Homes’ innovative technology, which provides clients with the quickest, easiest way to build a turnkey, architect-designed, prefab custom house. And one loaded with green features to boot!
The company’s revolutionary Blue Sky Frame (patent pending) uses predominantly cold-formed, light-gauge, galvanized steel (as opposed to the traditional wood and/or structural steel). Unlike most prefab homes, all the steel elements (which are manufactured with up to 70 percent recycled metal) for Graham’s new house are factory-fabricated and shipped flat to the construction site. Then, beginning on February 14, these elements will be bolted together — Erector Set-like — without expensive site-welding or waste. Workers will erect the entire frame the first day without a dumpster in sight.
“The vast majority of prefabricated homes are fully assembled in a factory,” says David McAdam, one of the principals of Blue Sky Homes. “That means the builders must transport large-volume cubes on large trucks and then set those cubes on concrete slabs utilizing equally large cranes. This approach is not only very expensive and inefficient, but hardly environmentally friendly. And for many locations, such a scenario is all but impossible, given access limitations. We think it makes much more sense to fabricate the elements of the house in a factory, ship them flat, and then assemble them rapidly at the site.”
The home’s exterior walls consist of snap-into-place expanded polystyrene panels with light-gauge steel studs. Known as steel thermal efficient panels (STEP), the panels carry the trade name Accel-E and are manufactured by Accelerated Building Technologies LLC, a joint venture of Dietrich Metal Framing and Nova Chemicals. By the end of day five, the house will be weatherproof and ready for interior work. Because the house sits on a series of peripheral columns (the only structural steel used), there is no need for load-bearing interior walls. This allows for rare flexibility in the interior floor plan design, which features wide-open spaces, high ceilings, and walls of glass.
Graham selected his house’s design from Blue Sky Homes’ online catalog. Then, working with the company’s architect partner o2 Architecture, Graham added, subtracted, and substituted until the configuration matched the dream home he envisioned. Headed by Lance O’Donnell, AIA, and Project Architect Martin Brunner, the Palm Springs architectural firm’s modernist design aesthetic is reflected in a range of residential, commercial, and institutional projects. As the general contractor, Palm Springs-based Solterra Development is known for taking mid-century modern home designs and rendering them as brand new homes, thus marrying much-loved classic blueprints with modern construction materials and environmentally up-to-date features.
The absence of structural wood in the Graham residence makes the house more resistant to fire, mold, rot, termites, and earthquakes. The Blue Sky Frame also works well in the steep terrain often found in the Hi-Desert. This ability to build either on a flat slab or off-grade meant no expensive earthwork, leaving only a very light footprint on the land. Galvanized steel requires no paint and does not rust, resulting in a home that will be almost maintenance-free.
Noted architects such as Linda Taalman and Alan Koch, the creators of the famed, off-the-grid itHouse, have begun using the Blue Sky Frame as the foundation for their own designs throughout California. Other projects are in development in Hawaii and in the Caribbean.
On the eco front, Blue Sky Homes are available with a host of green options, including solar photovoltaic systems, advanced solar hydronic hot water systems, non-VOC paints, Energy Star appliances, and much more.
“The real breakthrough we’ve achieved with the Blue Sky Frame is bringing all the advantages of steel—strength, durability, and the ability to create large open spans—to the residential market while using mostly light-gauge steel,” says McAdam. “Pound for pound, our metal costs less than structural steel elements. We believe that you’ll see an increasing adoption of light-gauge steel framing in residential construction in the years ahead, particularly given the impetus to build homes more quickly.”
For more information on Blue Sky Homes and Blue Sky Building Systems, please visit www.blueskyhomesllc.com. Check www.palmspringslife.com after February 14 for construction updates and in-progress images of the Graham residence.
Photography courtesy Blue Sky Homes
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