Stillwater Featured as Cover Story in The Oregonian’s Homes & Gardens Section
December 11, 2011
Oregon’s premier newspaper, The Oregonian, featured our client’s sd133 home on Sauvie Island. The cover story was a 4 page, full-spread color article, and provided what we think was a compelling, client-driven commentary on why our prefab home was the perfect solution for them, and how it saved them a ton of money. They included a sub-feature about their relationship with us here at Stillawater. Read more here about the home and clients, and here for their take on Stillwater Dwellings. Lots of thanks to Bridget Otto for a fantastic story!
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Jetson Green Article “Butterfly Roofline Prefab on Sauvie Island”
September 23, 2011Jetson Green Article september 20th 2011
Butterfly Roofline Prefab on Sauvie Island
Santa Barbara sd132 home complete
May 18, 2011
We’re proud to announce the completion of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,600 square foot prefabricated home with a signature soaring butterfly roofline in Santa Barbara, California. It features extensive green and energy-efficient systems, and many custom modifications unique to the owners. Most important to the homeowners, it was designed in a simple, straight-forward process, built off-site in a controlled environment, and completed for an up-front, fixed price that was a fraction of the site-built alternative.
The home is approximately 1,600 square feet with 320sf garage, and is highlighted by a unique ‘courtyard’ design that emphasizes indoor/outdoor living. Inside, the home is finished with eco-friendly micro-strip birch hardwood and Marmoleum flooring, low VOC paints, dual flush toilets, super-insulated wall and roof construction, and recycled content quartz slab countertops . Outside, the home utilizes a standing seam metal “cool roof” that reflects over 30% of the sun’s rays, and large overhangs that assist with passive cooling. The 35’ wide glass window wall picture frames views under the massive oaks to the creek on the property below and the Santa Ynez mountains beyond. Above, a clerestory window section pops up above the exposed wood beams to a ceiling height of over 11’.
PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS
Like many of Stillwater Dwellings clients, the new owners had already gone through a long process with an architect and contractor, only to find that their site-built dream house was priced at nearly double their budget. Then they turned to the internet and found Stillwater Dwellings. “We wanted a Stillwater home because we had tried working with an architect for plans to build on-site, and the result was a home we wouldn’t have been able to afford. …..We also wanted the convenience of ready-made plans to eliminate the decision-making back-and-forth that can drag on in conventional building process, “ noted the homeowner.
EXPENSIVE CONSTRUCTION MARKET: BETTER SOLUTION
Santa Barbara’s building costs have remained high in the current recession, in part because it’s traditionally an expensive place to build and also because the 2008 Tea fire has kept the home builders busy and building rates one of the highest in the country. This made Stillwater’s approach and costs even more attractive to the clients. Not only were costs less, they were agreed upon in writing before any construction began. The home was processed through the design review committee, permitted, and built in a fraction of the time than was planned for a comparable site-built home. “The process flowed smoothly, and for the most part according to expectations. We also appreciated that the engineering and architectural fees were included in the price.”
A NEW DESIGN, MODIFIED FOR THE OWNERS
This is Stillwater Dwellings first sd132 design. The courtyard home was modified in several simple ways to work with the site conditions. The house was first sited and orientated to protect the old California Oaks. The owners started with Stillwater’s Fundamental Style package, as it included cement-based HardiPanel & batten siding, which exceeded the stringent local wildfire codes. Window sizes and placements were adjusted to maximize views of the oaks and the creek beyond. Minor modifications were then made to increase the length of the guest bedroom wing, add a walk-in closet, and personalize key finishes and colors. To the owners this was monumental, “The modification process was effortless! We subtracted square footage in some rooms, and added it in others. Stillwater was incredibly accommodating and responsive. Right from the beginning we were able to customize the design we selected to suit our site.”
PRESERVATION OF PROTECTIVE TREES & LANDSCAPING
The large 1 acre home-site featured an incredible collection of protected oak trees and sensitive landscape areas leading to a creek. Impacting them in any way was not an option. Modular offsite construction turned out to be the perfect solution. Needing minimal staging and work areas, the modules were picked up from the driveway and lifted over the trees and bushes, and then carefully down onto the foundation.
We thought the owner’s comments said it all: “No other prefabricated designs appealed to us the way the Stillwater designs did. The pricing, comparatively, was very reasonable. We are LOVING our home. Even the dogs’ spirits are high” — the owners.
Contemporary Prefab Houses
April 12, 2011Stillwater Dwellings has been included in a just-released publication from Braun Publishing on prefab design. Beautifully produced, Contemporary Prefab Housesemphasizes design by architects who incorporate a modernist aesthetic, sustainable production and deliver high-quality, affordable dwellings. The author explores the challenges in combining sustainability with building designs that appeal to the discriminating tastes of the average prefab client. Galindo also examines the efforts to overcome the negative stereotypes that arise when prefab is mistakenly associated with manufactured housing.
The featured Stillwater Dwellings home, model sd231, was installed in Bend Oregon in 2009.
OPEN HOUSE: Portland, OR (April 16th, 2011)
March 21, 2011Please join us on April 16th. for this one of a kind, limited opportunity to tour a completed Stillwater home. All 3 partners/owners from Stillwater will be on hand to answer your questions. Sierra Pacific Windows will also be on hand to showcase the incredible line of windows that we used. There is a limited amount of space available, and attendance is by RSVP only.
Utah Red Rocks: sd111 takes shape
March 3, 2011
“The home is simple amazing – it is just stunning. Already received so many compliments on it. Just last night one of the concrete workers came by and said, “I don’t like contemporary home but your home is beautiful. You can tell a lot of thought went into it” ” Michael, Owner
March 1, 2011
sd111 Goes into Torrey Utah, more photos soon………………………..
sd133 Complete in Portland, Oregon
January 27, 2011Completed in December 2010, this sd133 is approximately 2,300 square feet, and was installed over an remodeled daylight 2 car garage/office/workout space below. The great room in the home is over 42′ wide, 17′ deep, and 12’6″ tall, with no interior supporting walls. The grand hallway showcases their extensive art collection, and the oversized glass pivot door at the end opens up boldly to the massive Balinese sculpture in the garden beyond. Inside, the home is finished with museum-quality lighting, custom glass and porcelain tile bathrooms, exotic reclaimed teak hardwood flooring, wool carpeting, low VOC paints, dual flush toilets, super-insulated wall and roof construction and ultra high-efficiency hybrid hot water heating. Whole house audio/visual, HVAC, and security cameras are controlled and monitored via in-wall touchscreens, their iPhone, and the internet. The 13′ high glass window wall picture frames views over the heirloom fruit orchard towards Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood.
See our GALLERY for more images.
Winter Sales Promotion
January 20, 2011
SD132 set complete in Santa Barbara
December 16, 2010We set a 3 module SD132 home for our wonderful clients in Santa Barbara yesterday. All 3 modules arrived mid-morning Tuesday, and the crane mobilized that afternoon. We set the first module at about 9am Wednesday, and by 2pm the crane was pulling away and we were sweeping the floors! We had nearly zero drywall damage, and everything lined up perfectly.
What a testament to the benefits of prefab: we had a 3 day window of good weather in which we went from foundation to completely weathered-in… tomorrow it’s supposed to begin raining solid for the next week, with several inches of rain expected. I can’t imagine having to deal with a stick-framed home in that weather.
We now have about 3 weeks of button up and finish work, and the house will be ready for our clients to move into.
Special thanks to Mike Clark, his install crew, and the guys at Specialty Crane & Rigging for all their hard work! The set couldn’t have gone smoother.
