Our Lady of the Green Prefab

A community of nuns in Denver get holy new digs in the form of Michelle Kaufmann-designed modular homes.

Tue, Aug 18 2009 at 8:34 AM EST

Yesterday it was super green prefab multifamily townhouses in Oakland. Today, it’s modular home construction of a much more, umm, seraphic variety.

As reported by The Denver Post, a 7-habit-strong community of Franciscan nuns in Denver, the Sisters of St. Francis Sacred Heart Province, will relocate from their old convent to new digs: modular homes designed by Michelle Kaufmann, somewhat of a deity herself in the green prefab building world.

The new convent, dubbed the Casa Chiara project, won’t just consist of 16 monastic modules. Developer Urban Ventures plans to assemble 160 affordable and market-rate homes, 110 rental apartments, and 80,000 square-feet of retail/office space on a 17-acre parcel of land, the Marycrest Convent campus, once owned by the sisters. The green development encompassing Casa Chiara is called Aria Denver (check out the nifty renderings at the bottom of the page).

Sister Sue Artone-Fricke tells the Denver Post:

Our heritage as Franciscan sisters is that we take responsibility for the Earth and see all creation as our sisters and brothers and treat all with gentle courtesy.

Nice. Thanks to the few-worldly-possessions thing and strong sense of community, nuns have also erred on the greener side but I never thought of them as being a competitive bunch. With this fabulous new project, they’re certainly giving a few green Benedictine sisters in New York City a run for their money.

For more on Casa Chiara and Aria Denver — including plenty of photos and a look at a unique prefab groundbreaking ceremony — check in with Michelle Kaufmann’s blog.