Precedents
The Suncoach

Ed Larrabee Barnes
Prefabricated House


Mimi Hoang

Barnes was invited by the Industrial Designer Henry Dreyfus to collaborate with him on a prototype affordable house which was to be put in production by the Vultex Aircraft Co. Funding for the prototype was provided by the Federal Government's Gaurantee Market Program, which was intended to provide housing and work for workers trying to make the transition to a post war economy. The walls were made of single full sized panels which wee transported to the site and then erected. The panels themselves were paper cores skinned with aluminum.

Image Credit:Ed Larrabee Barnes


This project is one of the first manufactured home projects that focuses on the space around the building as a critical design problem. Barnes, understanding that private (or at least protected) outdoor space was important, designed an outdoor wall, which both defined an outdoor space, but also tied it to the interior. These concerns are raised again in the sixties, by Paul Rudolph and in the late eighties by Duany Plater-Zyberck.