Blu Homes beefs up iconic green prefab with Sidebreeze

From prefab powerhouse Blu Homes comes the company's eighth — and largest — design: A spacious, two-story take on Michelle Kaufmann's pioneering prefab, the Breezehouse.

Mon, Oct 08 2012 at 8:00 AM

Related Topics:

Green Architecture, Green Building, Prefab

Images: Mariko Reed/Blu Homes

Hot on the tails of super-busy, bi-coastal prefab firm Blu Homes’ Breezehouse being tapped as the 2012 Sunset Idea House, the company is back with the introduction of its eighth and most spacious modular home. Dubbed the Sidebreeze, the home is an up-sized riff on the original Breezehouse — an iconic 2005 Michelle Kaufmann design tweaked by Blu after the firm acquired it back in 2009 — configured to comfortably fit into narrow suburban lots while offering 2,600-square-feet of living space spread throughout two floors. It’s a beauty.

From the home’s lead architect and Blu Homes creative director Karl Daubmann:

We listened to the thousands of customers who have toured our homes, participated in our webinars and visited the Breezehouse we built with 'Sunset' magazine, and our updated version of the celebrated Sidebreeze incorporates dozen of changes they recommended. We preserved the high ceilings and sun-filled open spaces that mark the Breezehouse, while building a spacious home that highlights the best of California design sensibility. Uniquely versatile, the Sidebreeze will fit as seamlessly into a narrow beachfront lot in Southern California as it will the suburbs of the East Coast or the slopes of a Colorado mountainside.

With its open floor plan, Sidebreeze is a three- or four-bedroom factory-built affair that, like its predecessor, emphasizes indoor/outdoor living and entertaining. There’s a cantilevered second floor with master suite and private balcony, three full baths (or two full and one half baths), clerestory windows, built-in cabinetry, optional fireplace, and more along with Blu Homes green standards such as radiant floor heating, high R-value walls, and the use of low/no-VOC paints and finishes throughout.

Like other Blu models, Sidebreeze is solar-ready and capable of achieving net-zero energy status with LEED or Energy Star for Homes certification also a possibility. And, of course, the design incorporates Blu’s patented recycled steel framing technology for a more efficient and speedy delivery and install process.

The base price for Breezehouse is $590,000 including delivery, materials, finishes and appliances, and on-site finishing. The cost is $625,000 in California and Canada.

Lots more specifics on the newest addition to the Blu family here. Daubmann is also holding two informative webinars to discuss the various features of Sidebreeze. The first is on Oct. 24 from 7 to 8 p; the second will be on Oct. 28 from 3 to 4 pm EST. Click here to learn more/RSVP and to peruse other Blue Homes events on the horizon including a tour of Tim Disney's Origin prefab in Joshua Tree.

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