The Clayton i-house incorporates numerous upscale design features and energy efficient construction practices at a starting price of $75,000.
About Clayton Homes
| Project | I-House |
| Design and construction | Clayton Homes |
| Area | 1000 sq ft |
| Bedrooms | 1 |
| Year | 2008 |
The basic prebuilt green modular home I-House is about 1000 square feet, though the design's blend of outdoor and indoor space makes it seem bigger. The main unit can be expanded by adding extra room modules in various configurations to suit the customer's needs and the topography of the lot — placing room units above one another to build, for example, on a hillside lot. The green features of the prebuilt green modular home are solar panels, Low-E windows, superior insulation, rainwater-collection cisterns, and high-efficiency appliances.
Architects at the country’s largest manufactured home company embraced the basic rectangular form of what began as housing on wheels and gave it a postmodern turn with a distinctive v-shaped roofline, energy efficiency and luxury appointments.
Stylistically, the “i-house” might be more at home in the pages of a cutting-edge architectural magazine like Dwell – an inspirational source – than among the Cape Cods and ranchers in the suburbs.
The layout of the long main “core” house and a separate box-shaped guestroom-office “flex room” resemble the letter “i” and its dot. Yet Clayton CEO and President Kevin Clayton said “i-house” stands for more than its footprint.
“It does not look like your typical manufactured home,” said Thayer Long with the Manufactured Housing Institute, a Washington-based group representing 370 manufactured and modular home-building companies.
And shattering those mobile home stereotypes is a good thing, he said. “I think the ‘i-house’ is just more proof that the industry is capable of delivering homes that are highly customizable at an affordable price.”
The “i-house’s” metal v-shaped roof – inspired by a gas-station awning – combines design with function. The roof provides a rain water catchment system for recycling, supports flush-mounted solar panels and vaults interior ceilings at each end to 10 1/2 feet for an added feeling of openness.
The Energy Star-rated design features heavy insulation, six-inch thick exterior walls, cement board and corrugated metal siding, energy efficient appliances, a tankless water heater, dual-flush toilets and lots of “low-e” glazed windows.
The company said the prototype at roughly 52,000 pounds may be the heaviest home it’s ever built.
The final product will come in different exterior colors and will allow buyers to design online, adding another bedroom to the core house, a second bedroom to the flex room or rearranging the footprint to resemble an “L” instead of an “I.”
“We thought of this a little like a kit of parts, where you have all these parts that can go together in different ways,” said Andy Hutsell, one of the architects.
