People driving by The Edison apartment building in North Portland may slow down to check out the new three-level construction. But neighbors know the secret: Huge portions of it were built nearby in a warehouse, trucked to the site and, in one day, fastened onto the prepared foundation.
Builder Nathan Young of MODS -- Modular Organized Development System -- is now in the process of completing his second prefabricated building: A six-plex to also rest on land near the St. Johns Bridge.
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inside a North Portland warehouse.
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Modular construction still has a way to go before it's commonplace, but interest is building in Portland and across the country, say city officials and industry spokespeople. And that may change all of our minds about the way housing will look like in the future.
Some people who shrug off the idea of assembling sections of a house or apartment inside a warehouse might do so because they envision mobile homes or lookalike prefab homes advertised near freeway exits.
They expect cookie cutter instead of custom, without knowing that many modular builders never repeat the same design, says Donna Peak of the National Association of Home Builders, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group with 140,000 members.
Look inside The Edison: Six of the apartments were constructed of wood, complete with attached walls, floor, ceiling, wiring, plumbing and interior fixtures, then moved to the site on North Willamette Boulevard. The seventh apartment, a studio, sits below the foundation.
As the building was being finished on site, interior designer Angela Todd was working to make each apartment look anything but ho-hum. She had to consider space -- one-bedroom units start at 625 square feet; two-bedrooms are up to 800 square feet -- and renters paying $1,300 to $1,600 a month expect upgrades.
"When Nathan [Young] and I talked about the project, he had some ideas about the style of the units," say Todd, who wanted to base her design on the Craftsman-inspired architecture of the building but also appeal to their target market: urban professionals.
"We wanted the apartments to have a sense of urban luxury," she say. "We wanted to give the units a bit of modern appeal like the Pearl District, but also support the earthy, non-pretentious neighborhood feel of the up-and-coming St. Johns area."
It was important to stay within budget and select surfaces that could withstand tenant wear and tear. "Nathan wasn't focused on price, as much as quality, efficiency, wearability, sustainability and the design," she says. "He always builds this way and this unit was no different."
She created a mixed palette of wall colors, tiles, laminate hardwoods, cabinetry and quartz countertop materials. "This gave each unit its own style, while still giving a cohesiveness to the multiunit home," she says.
The galley kitchens have porcelain backsplashes from Statements Tile connecting the quartz countertops to the upper cabinets. Porcelain tile from Pental Granite and Marble was installed on the bathroom floor.
Porcelain doesn't require sealing and is hardy, says Todd. Other rooms have a new-generation laminate floor by Somerset that is strong and feels like hardwoods, she adds.
The streamlined kitchens also have a space-saving, European-size stainless refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and stove from Eastbank Contractor Appliances.
While a standard refrigerator in the U.S. is 29 inches across and larger ones can be 36 inches wide, these are only 24 inches. The cooktop and low-profile cooktop hood are also 24 inches wide.
Energy efficiency was critical in choosing the appliance as well as the LED lighting, windows and air-recirculating systems. MODS strives to make its buildings as close to net-zero energy as possible. This means the building generates its own energy with solar and by recapturing energy from heating and cooling loads.
To make the apartments easier to maintain, Todd choose a new type of quartz lock grout that resists cracking and staining and doesn't fade. "The grout costs more, but performs much better in the long run," she say. "The wall-mount toilets cost a bit more too but are also more water efficient and easier to clean."
Out-of-the box thinking is evident in another place in the Edison: Young wanted an alternative to laminate floors on the interior stairs since typical laminated stair nosing doesn't look or perform very well. Instead of shopping for the latest product on the market, he went back to his building roots: He made the stairs from material leftover from the project and painted the risers.
"The stairs look as if they are floating between the treads," says Todd.
-- Janet Eastman
jeastman@oregonian.com
503-799-8739
@janeteastman