On the Arizona campus of Taliesin West which houses the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture sits Mod.Fab, a student project led by faculty adviser Michael P. Johnson. The completed house is a testament to modern technology, the advancement of architectural schools, and the skill level of young architects today.

There was a time when unseasoned architects like Rodney Dangerfield “got no respect,” now they’re discovering the latest advancements in materials, designing enviable modern structures, and constructing self-authored bleeding edge projects virtually all on their own. To borrow a phrase from another artistic icon, “the times they are a’changin.”

As a study in what can be done Mod.Fab represents sustainable modern house design in a most favorable light. “The goal fundamentally was to create an affordable sustainable well-designed building that could be prefabricated in a factory and delivered or site built,” said Project Manager Christian Butler describing the goal for Mod.Fab. He then went on to reiterate, “I think it’s important that good design is also affordable.”

The sustainable features of Mod.Fab start with its site specific plan (as all good architecture does), and expected use as a fair-weather campus retreat housing students and guests for short-term stays. Playing off that theme the house is situated to take advantage of passive cooling from breezeways and the rotation of the sun. Mod.Fab uses solar panels that can also send power back to other buildings on the campus when not in use during typically hot summer months in the desert. A gray water system re-uses shower and sink water to maintain the surrounding landscape. The system also harvests rainwater, and low-consumption fixtures help reduce total water usage.

Although the end result could inspire public requests for the prefab design to be ordered from a factory, Taliesin Mod.Fab was intended to be an educational “exploration of…sustainable methods,” and as such the existing plan Christian Butler explained “would need some adaptations before the house could work as a year-round residence in a typical urban environment.” Even so, given the pedantic study that went into Mod.Fab it would be a disappointment if in some form it wasn’t eventually made available for public consumption.

Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “…the belief in a thing makes it happen,” and it is that sentiment that suggests he would take some joy in the study that produced Mod.Fab.

View the MHM Feature Slide Show of Mod.Fab.