ReadyMade
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Friday, 25 January 08 - 02:02 PM (GMT -06:00) By Paul Stankey in PreFab |
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On Monday January 21 my brother, Jackson and myself had a photo shoot at the cabin for the magazine ReadyMade. The high temp Monday was somewhere around 5º F. Really, really cold.
The driveway was only plowed to the gate so we had to bring everything needed in on sled the rest of the way, about 1/8 of mile through about two feet of sugar snow.
The loll guys and Frank joined us and brought some furniture along to spruce up the space.
We shared some beers while trying to stay warm...
We had a good time and wrapped it all up around 6:30. Watch the March issue for a little story and a photo or two...
Mod bathroom
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Friday, 25 January 08 - 09:27 AM (GMT -06:00) By Bryan Meyer in Design |
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A little news from our sister office (the site built stuff) MA Architecture. A modern master bath we did for a nice craftsman house in Minneapolis will be appearing in the March issue of Midwest Home magazine.
[photos by karen melvin photography]
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
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Wednesday, 23 January 08 - 09:12 AM (GMT -06:00) By Bryan Meyer in PreFab |
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Is this a sign that we're doing something right - or just not charging enough for our houses?
A local architect apparently toured a Hive house and hired the same contractor we use for buttoning up our Minneapolis modular houses. Notice any similarities? (i.e Hive is on the right!)
I guess it's true that there are no new ideas in architecture. Thanks for the compliment Karl, I hope the house sells cuz we can use the comp!
Hive Modular enters Canada
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Monday, 07 January 08 - 08:43 AM (GMT -06:00) By Rhonda Pike in PreFab |
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Hive can now reach Canada and will showing up in Calgary and Edmonton...
Meet the guys of Hive at the Calgary HomExpo at the Roundup Centre in Stampede Park, January 11-13.
And at the Edmonton Home + Garden Show April 3-6 at the Northlands Agricom.
Holyoke Cabin
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Wednesday, 14 November 07 - 09:22 AM (GMT -06:00) By Paul Stankey in PreFab |
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My father and his brother bought the property for hunting in 1970. The purchase consisted of two 20-acre lots split between the two of them. More recently we began leasing an adjacent 139 acres. The land is about two hours North of the Twin Cities in a very small community called Holyoke. The land has several ravines and hills with equal amounts of fields and prairie. Hunting was my father’s and uncle’s original intention for the land. As my cousins, brother and I grew up the land started to take on different uses for all of us. At a young age we all started riding motocross bikes, creating trails, jumps and tracks. Once we got a little older the land was too small for the bikes we were riding and the kind of riding we were interested in, we used the land as a home base for all the single track in the area. More recently we have been slowly restoring and rehabbing the land to bring it back to a natural state, we still have bikes though but with the construction of the cabin and everything else we have little time to get out and enjoy. I will save the topic riding for another post.
Since my father’s passing in the early 90’s my brother Scott Stankey, his wife Krista, my wife Sarah Nordby (girlfriend at the time) and I decided to build a new cabin/weekend home as the 1940’s trailer home is literally falling apart and being taken over by nature. The trailer was very cool, all birch interior with nice built-ins, but time took its toll. We started researching different building methods and materials with the focus on reuse and longevity as the budget was nonexistent and we wanted it to last. We also were looking at solutions that would be able to handle the wild seasonal changes and the intolerable rodent problem. Sarah and I lived near a train yard with stacks and stacks of shipping containers. As we would talk we could not help think of the possibility of shipping containers for a structure. I started looking into the purchase of a container and realized how affordable it could be. So once the initial research was completed I approached my brother with the idea. He was intrigued and we pursued it further. I started doing some drawings and some space analysis of what will actually work in an 8’ space. and running them past everyone and Scott called around and found two 20’ used containers for $800 each. Before the design could be completely hammered out we needed to solidify what we really needed in the cabin. We came up with a rough program consisting of really just rooms, we were not really concerned about size too much as we were coming out of an old trailer. The program we came up with for the cabin was to include a kitchen, dining room, living room, wash and clothes area, and two queen beds.
Once we all decided this is the way we wanted to go and had a pretty good idea of what this was going to look like we had to come up with a way to get them from Minneapolis to Holyoke. At the time I had a beat up Ford diesel truck that I thought could do it. I rented a flatbed trailer and met my brother at the train yard. We loaded up the first box and made our way up. My bother followed me in his truck running defense in traffic. We made it up in one piece and with little trouble. Once on the property we needed to unload the 5000-pound box. We first tried to pull the container off the trailer by me pulling forward and with my brother’s truck pulling the container other direction; this resulted in my truck pulling my brothers. We then devised a system using heavy gauge pipe and a rope. We jacked up the boxes high enough to get the pipes between the bed of the trailer and the bottom of the container. Once we had about 15 pipes under the full length we tied the container to my brothers truck again but left his truck in park with the handbrake engaged. I started my truck and proceeded to drive forward thus pulling the trailer out from under the container. This resulted in a loud noise but a successful drop. The second container was a snap as most of the details were worked out after dealing with the first one.
Once we decided on the exact location we rented an excavator and dug the footings. The following weekend Sarah, Scott and I formed, mixed and poured the footings and piers.
Two weeks after we began the process of moving the containers on to the piers. We aligned the containers with the pier locations and jacked them up on used railroad ties.
Once the containers we cribbed up to the appropriate height and aligned with the piers we used the same techniques we used to get the containers off the trailer.
We attached one end of a come-along to a tree and the other to one of the containers. Under the containers we used the pipes as wheels again and slowly moved them into place.
We moved a container a weekend. Once they were in place we removed the cribbing and welded them into place. From there the rest is pretty self-explanatory(photo loft).
A couple things to note about the whole process and the current state; we have no electricity, we used a generator or hand power, and we have no running water so mixing concrete was achieved by pumping water from our creek 1/4 mile away and trucking it to the build site and mixing in an electric mixer powered by a generator. All windows and hardware were homemade; we set the insulated glass into frames we welded on-site.
When complete the interior walls and ceilings will be finished in birch plywood, to match the trailer’s original feel and look. We will have a full 12v lighting system with a gas light back up. The 12v system will be replenished via a small array of PV’s. The downspout will be hooked up to a cistern to collect all rain from roof. This will supply us with a gray-water system.
I will continue to update this project as we pass major steps in the process.
Hive in Madison
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Monday, 29 October 07 - 10:18 AM (GMT -06:00) By Rhonda Pike in PreFab |
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Hive Modular has added another house to its X-Line portfolio. Set on Wednesday, October 17th in Madison, Wisconsin, this customized version of an X-Line 001 exemplifies the Hive style. For more photos of the set, check out our Picasa photo site
Clara Cabin
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Friday, 26 October 07 - 10:44 AM (GMT -06:00) By Bryan Meyer in Design |
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This past weekend was my wife, Anne and my last visit to our northern Minnesota cabin until next spring. It's an emotional weekend because aside from a mid winter snowshoe hike in, we typically don't return for 6 months.
Aside from the roaming hunters and endless rain, the late fall is an amazing time of the year to be in the woods. Honestly, each season is fascinating, but by October the leaves have dropped, migrating animals departed and the woods eerily quiet. What was once impenetrable foliage now offers distant views and sounds from crisp trees flexing in the gusty winds.
We spend the short days working on the last few projects of the year and nights around the fire dreaming up new ones for the spring. The cold and damp weather makes us long for a sauna building, but since we still cook outdoors, the priority has to be a kitchen structure.
The idea to build a cabin came about over 10 years ago when Anne and I had recently completed architecture school. Anne’s family had owned the remote lake property since the 60’s and happily camped without electricity or running water, building only a small storage shed. We were anxious to apply our education and get our hands dirty and decided to design and construct a building that would not only protect us from the weather and mosquitoes, but would capture the spirit and traditions of the encampment.
As lifelong campers, we love being outdoors and wanted the cabin to provide minimal shelter and amenity. We consider it to be a glorified tent - a primitive room in the woods. The concept for the design was inspired by Anne’s ritual of sounding an echo off the lake upon our typical late Friday night arrival.
The idea found form in the methodology of manipulation of the cabin doors to adapt to different views, sounds, uses and weather conditions. Large doors and a birch plywood interior transform the static box into a dynamic space, animated with inhabitation.
The 220 square foot “room” adapts to our basic needs through flexible storage devices such as a folding bed and pivoting storage devices.
The only technology incorporated is a 12 volt lighting system powered by a solar charged marine battery. Two sides of the building open to draw in the adjacent national forest land and allow views to the lake. Three bi-folding doors operate independently, allowing the user to open just one or all, thus converting the interior in to a stage-like volume (and a chapel, since we were married there). Small aperture-like windows contrast the large openings and provide framed views of the surrounding wilderness.
When closed and vacant, the building transforms into a mute box and blends into the quiet winter woods.
Corsica?
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Friday, 28 September 07 - 08:33 AM (GMT -06:00) By Paul Stankey in Travel |
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This year the house we normally rent was not available so we changed it up, we went to Corsica instead. We spent a week there with a 1-night stay in London on the front and back end.
I now, like many I had no idea really were it was. It is a very large island (about 180 miles long) just south of the French coast and just north of Sardinia in the Mediterranean.
We stayed in a town on the south east side of the island Porto Vecchio.
For lack of a better description the terrain is similar to northern California, it is pretty dry and scrubby (low brush and rugged trees).
There are 6000’ tall mountains in the interior that look like the Tetons in Wyoming,
beautiful fresh water streams
that lead out of them to the sea and vistas that seemed to go on forever.
Some of the rivers had stunning pools that offer great cliff jumping.
Apart from getting together with the family the biggest reason for the family vacation is relaxation on the beach. Of course it being an island there were plenty...
Some more crowded
than others
but all of them had their own special beauty. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with us, most days were cloudy and cool but still, we were in Corsica!
We all felt like we did not get enough time to explore the island, there is a ton to do and see. We did spend some time exploring a couple of the towns the busiest and the most beautiful being Bonifacio.
At this point I do not know where we are going next year but I now know that Corsica offers an amazing amount of opportunities for a good time.
Dreams
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Tuesday, 07 August 07 - 10:50 AM (GMT -06:00) By Paul Stankey in Design |
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A little bit about us... Our current car, a 1990 Saab 900s, is getting tired with almost 190k on the clock and the body is really going with our lovely salt bathed winter roads. The deer that ran into the passenger side door gave me the opportunity to spice the car up with new colors too.
We have no kids. We need the ability to haul tools, building materials, dogs, and food to the cabin (it is under construction) preferably in comfort.
We do not like SUV for many reasons (gas prices being the biggest), we already have a pick-up truck that is a bit worse for the wear (225k) and a little redneck but gets great mileage (my rational for keeping it)
and there was no way we were going to buy a minivan, not that there is anything wrong with them. I used to drive one when I was in high school but we are a couple with no kids, more importantly there is not a minivan out there that is very exciting. So when looking for something that has comfort, performance and the ability to haul our goods a wagon seemed like the best alternative. We started looking more specifically at the Audi A6, Volvo XC70 or V70 and the Mazda 6s wagon. I know all are very different in look, feel and practicality.
We were drawn to the Mazda for the value and reliability. The 6 wagon is very nice but lacks the design the other two offer. We both owned Audi’s in the past and liked the way the Allroad and the A6 feels and drives although initial price and cost of ownership is quite high. And the Volvo XC70 and V70 feel and drive much like our current Saab, the design and ergonomics seemed familiar but suffer from similar initial and lifetime costs as the Audi.
We started our search like most on the web. We then headed to our local auto show in the spring. Entering the car show we both knew what we were looking for until we found ourselves at the Volvo exhibit. There we saw the new Volvo C30.
Having been to Volvo’s website I was familiar with the car and found it intriguing but really nothing more. Seeing the car in person changed my mind completely. Both my wife and I rarely get excited about new cars, most are void of design or completely over designed.
The new C30 is beautiful; Volvo’s designers nailed this one on the head. They have with some exceptions always had a good hand on proportionality. Looking back through Volvo’s history most of their cars have an unmistakable “Volvo” quality that seems right.
The C30 nods at the classic ’60’s Volvo’s P1800ES wagonette while still keeping with the current styling direction of the car manufacturer.
When we sat in the display car we both felt at home, almost unbelievable similarity to the 900. It almost seemed to good to be true a modern hip cool version of our old 900. One big exception/drawback to the new C30 was the rear hatch seemed too small to be entirely useful. Having gotten used to the pick-up like capacity of the 900 we both thought it would take a bit of getting used to but could probably make due. After getting completely caught up in the whirlwind of new car ownership we researched the purchase and payments and found ourselves back where we started, I could not rationalize the purchase of a brand new car. Not to mention we had forgotten all the stuff we need the car to do like hauling tools and materials.
At the end of the day practicality took precedent over everything. Our dream, albeit fun was not what we needed and we have now come back to the responsible choice of the Mazda 6s wagon. I know it is not nearly as exciting but someday when we have even a little disposable income we will be able to have some more exciting options.
Design Animations on YouTube
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Friday, 13 July 07 - 11:18 AM (GMT -06:00) By Rhonda Pike in PreFab |
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Hive Modular has posted video animations of their completed and upcoming projects on YouTube.
Keep checking the site, as we will continue to post animations of our newest projects while they are in their design stages.
... More items are available in our News Archive
