Adam Kalkin's Quik Build Kit House

[lavardera]

I did not mean to be critical. It is not fair to expect this installation to be a working house. But he has built working houses of containers and we don't know how he handled insulation in them and I hoped this would shed some light.

The braces no doubt were necessary because the lower level containers were not the proper size to extend all the way to the edge. Who knows why - perhaps he had to work with donated containers and this was all he could get. In the rendering:



it looks like the lower level is either purpose built containers, or a regular container cut lengthwise and turned on end. Its hard to know. But the ribbing in the lowerlevel is going horizontal which suggests a container is on its end.

At the installation the lower level is made of conventional containers in an upright position - the ribs are vertical.



Those observations are at the root of my comments.
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[modernlover]

Criticize away! I fully understand where you're coming from. I had all sorts of questions for the design team when I was there, but no one was around to answer my questions, just the gallery folks, so I let it go.
I do get the feeling that this project is just that: a project. If they were serious about selling this, they'd have a real marketing plan set up. If they did, I bet they'd make a pile of money. But, like I said before, using containers is a doable idea.
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Justin

[varp]

I reckon container living is doable too! Extra sexy IMHO!!

Kalkins thing is an installation first product second. Thanks be to the one they call Justin for forwarding on his catalogue for this exhibition. It's fantastic and the irony is laid on with a trowel. I like his brutalist anti-style style, but I don't see him moving many units.

Long may he live and prosper!

[peterh]

[cyberollo]

Thanks for the pix Modernlover! It's more than Kalkin will apparently do for himself or his potential customers. I don't want to rant, but why are there always so few details from this guy? OK, we "get it" - he is artsy and clever - but is there any real interest on his part in adding to the knowledge base of container construction technique? He must realize that he has an audience of people who view containers as an honest construction material. Why squander that? Why offer Quikbuild as a product with a price if he is not willing to support it with detailed information? I wish I had been able to visit the installation. I agree that the pictures almost raise more questions than they answer. Vewing it in person must have been a great laboratory of ideas. I hope you will share more of what you learned / saw.
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I'd rather be a hammer than a nail...

[varp]

Cyberollo - I don't think he need explain himself or add to the container pool of wisdom any more than he has done. He made something, put it on show and that's that. In his cat. that went with the show he gives us a relatively straight forward costing with all the available extras such as stainless kitchen, dishwasher, fireplace etc. He also throws into the package optionals like a Nissan G35 Sports Car that matches the house color, a Dead Dogs In Coffee silkscreen and if you really want to go the hard yards how about a DNA Induced dinner prepared by Adam Kalkin in your new home? Only $1,000 for that one!
I haven't seen the show, but the feeling I get from the cat. and the pics. is he has put forward a genuine product that remains principally an idea. I like what he has done and I admire the fact that he put it on show. Sean Godsell who made 'Future Shack' on the other hand seems to keep a pretty tight lid on his creation. I've been on his waiting list for ages so I can go have a peek, but nothing doing there.

[lavardera]

You should talk to Jones Partners - they seem to be doing real projects.
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[cyberollo]

Right Varp...you have me at a loss as I have not seen the cat. - only the pix posted by Moderlover and the info one can find by following links on FabPrefab to Kalkin's works on the web. I have seen a copy of one of his books as well. You are correct - Kalkin doesn't have to do squat. He can display his artsy version of a container home and coast on his artistic laurels by displaying that which you have describe so aptly as "principally an idea"....But, oh how I long for SOMEONE - ANYONE to post/write/sell/publish something DETAILED and SUBSTANTIVE about building real live no-BS ATRACTIVE/PRACTICAL/FUNCTIONAL/STYLISH housing from containers. Maybe Kalkin is not the man for this. I truly hope that someone is! I can find detailed info on how to build with straw bales, rammed earth, insulated concrete forms, SIPS ad nauseaaaahhhh.
If you follow the container posts here, it all comes down to folks looking for construction details - wrestling with codes - how to insulate - how to ad fixtures - how to construct foundations -the real "nuts and bolts"...so few comphrehensive answers! Who will "write the book" on container construction???? Apparently NOT Kalkin! He will only write the cat. with the cheeky accesory list!
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I'd rather be a hammer than a nail...

[varp]

Yay verily - " Who Shall Write The Book " Not I he said, but then I do have an increasingly fat folder with all the bits and pieces I've pulled off the net and magazines that could - with a bit of a tickle - pass for a whole lot of stuff I've pulled off the net...
You're right on the money there Cyberollo - nothing much but dreams and snazzy modelling going on.....but ya gotta dream the little dream.
It does strike me as a little bit odd that containers have been around for as long as they have and so little has happened that is worth a bumper. But that doesn't matter because I've just bought one and I know it'll be a beautifull thing because they really are very simple, strong and ripe for discreet styling. I've just spent a lazy day staring at it and I don't see any real problems. Mind you because this one won't be used as housing I'm ignoring all the bureaucratic niceties.
The redoubtable Bob Sheaves was looking at getting some interest in a container workshop going which sounded terrific, but no good for the likes of me here on the other side of the big blue wobbly. When I tell people what I'm doing there seems to be a lot of genuine interest so perhaps it is an idea whose time has come.[/quote]

[JanetP]

The house looks very interesting. However, the "professional" range could be a source of excess heat. Suggest that the newer induction cooktops could be beneficial and safer method. I've recently acquired a Cooktek unit for experimenting. It is really cool, literally. I'm still looking for the right cooking utensits as it requires ferrous cookware. But this doesn't seem to be a drawback, just a constraint.
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"Don't sit on the sidelines"

[jps]

hi,
fyi there was in todays n/y times supplement home design part 2/spring 2004 of 4/18 an interisting article about adam kalkin's quick house shown in soho.
thes photos expllain some questions about ribbing of steel, however it otherwise falls short of insulation issues.
pretty pictures, though
jo

[bjorn]

IS THIS THE NEW USONIAN?

Saw the article in the NY Times Mag and just wanted to deposit my $.02 on the subject of containers as houses. I admit containers can be beautiful to look at. They remind me of minimalist sculpture like that of Serra or Judd. They may be also be one of the cheapest and most durable forms of prefab shelter out there. But to my mind, based on what I see on Container Bay and in the photos of Kalkin's show, these boxes (unless HEAVILY de-constructed and tricked-out) make downright sarcophogal dwellings. They seem like a bad joke on the late 20th/early 21st C fascination with the idea of building as vessel (ie Herzog & DeMeuron). What could be more antithetical to the spatial tenets of modernism than the current obsession with tooling the skin/facade of a box? I think the idea of containers as housing (except as emergency shelter) is a liability to the prefab meme and should be left on the dock.

Bring on the flamethrowers, baby!

[lavardera]

I agree with you when I look at Kalkins work, but I think the Pro-Con proposals by Jones Partners transcends the box.
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[bjorn]

Yeah, but if I'm thinking that most of those who are attracted to the affordability of this proposition would end up with something more like this:

E-GADS!

[pbreit]

NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/magazine/18KALKIN.html