Sleek, Prefab Housing: Not As Promising As It Looks?

“The last thing the fledgling prefab movement needs at this point is aggressive marketing or more hype. What it needs is a reality check,” Christopher Hawthorne argues. New, high-design, supposedly accessibly priced prefab housing is wildly popular in theory, but in reality it’s been little tested beyond homes built for architects. “That’s allowed the houses’ creators to remain coy about cost overruns and other obstacles they’ve encountered as they try to work out the kinks of prefab construction. Meanwhile, the prices prefab architects quote to buyers have been climbing.”