September 17, 2021

FastCompany features OpenHome under construction

Rendering of the front entrance at the first home designed with the OpenHome system, now under construction in New Hampshire. Every OpenHome design can be built to Passive House certification standards

KieranTimberlake's first home designed with the OpenHome system is now under construction in New Hampshire and featured in FastCompany. OpenHome is a collaboration with Bensonwood that combines prefab, virtual reality, and architectural expertise.  
 
OpenHome's predesigned base components allow architects to spend less time those parts and more time understanding the home's site, its orientation, and the kinds of views and experiences the owner hopes to have. The OpenHome system combines prefab, virtual reality, and the touch of an architect to bring architect-designed homes in about half the time, and at a cost savings.

The OpenHome system uses predesigned base components to allow architects to spend less time designing basic house elements and more time understanding the home's site, its orientation, and the kinds of views and experiences the owner hopes to have.

OpenHome, a new joint venture, seeks to create a more economical custom home 
 

OpenHome is based on a series of building blocks, or clusters, that make up sections of rooms in a typical home. Built using prefabricated panels that Bensonwood makes in its factory, these clusters can be combined to create rooms of different sizes that can all connect together into a complete home, each designed to be all-electric and meet the low-carbon Passive House energy standard. Working with an architect, homebuyers can define the spatial layout of their house and the types of rooms it will have by combining clusters from the OpenHome library. The pieces can be combined in a variety of shapes from narrow to wide, single- or double-story, in straight lines, perpendicular arrangements, or with interior courtyards.

 
Read the full article at FastCompany.

Rendering of the living space inside an OpenHome currently under construction. OpenHomes can expand from 1,000 to over 3,000 square feet in size, with several floor plan, roof profile, and cladding options available.