Sunday, June 27, 2010

Affordable Dream Houses | by Asul





So I was perusing the Dwell on Design 2010 site and came across the site Asul. Intrigued with the name I ventured in to see what Asul was all about. How delighted I was to find these really cool home structures. Asul is an inventive home and construction system developed by a team of Architects, Engineers, Contractors and Investors.

What I like about the homes are, they have a very modern look and they work on ANY lot. The key here is that the Asul team have developed a "system" that is adaptable to many requirements and scenarios.

The process is started by assessing your lot and housing needs and designing your house to work with your lot. Then the foundations start, which use caisson footings. So the home is elevated off the ground then the steel structure is brought into place. The steel structure is craned into place. The beauty of the steel structure, is that it absorbs the entire structural load of the home. Ao structural walls are unnecessary which gives you tons of design latitude within the structure. I also love how they integrated the joist hangers right into the steel i-beams. And since their are no exterior shear walls windows and doors can be added anywhere. So, I have an email into them about integrating my favorite modern glass garage doors. I think it has to be do-able.

Asul has 3 build options, You build which is around an amazing $25 a square foot. Option 2 is You and Asul build which is about $50 a square foot and Option 3 is Asul builds and this option is still an amazing $100 a square foot.

Check out the video on their site of how the construction process goes. I think I am sold.

Now I just need to sell my house and find that dream lot...


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