michelle kaufmann designs

As I have mentioned before, I remain committed to the mission of making thoughtful, sustainable design accessible.  Everyone should have access to a home that is healthy, efficient, and beautiful. So many people invested so much into this mission with MKD – our clients, employees, colleagues, partners, factories, investors, consultants, vendors, writers, friends and our families. We all believe in this ideal and worked hard at MKD to make it happen.

The closing of MKD back in May was heart breaking and the past months have been quite difficult for many of us. However, I am pleased to announce that Blu Homes, of Boston, MA, has purchased the rights to build the MKD preconfigured designs. These include the  Glidehouse™, Breezehouse™ , mkLotus™  and the mkSolaire™. Blu Homes will now be offering versions of these home designs that work with their unique unfolding modular technology. The unfolding process allows the homes to be shipped with 8’, 10’ and 12’ widths to the site, which allows a greater geographical territory as well as lowered shipping costs than the wider modules. When they arrive on site, they unfold to enable spaces that are 16’ 18’ and even 22’ wide.  The new versions of these designs will have slightly differing floor plans, proportions and elevations. However, the design principles are intended to remain true to the originals.

photo above is the ORIGIN home after it has been unfolded.

Bill Haney, the co-founder of Blu Homes has been a green tech entrepeneur for over 30 years and has assembled a team of MIT engineers and designers to implement this technology. Their approach to the issue of making green design affordable has been through the technology filter. Blu has developed a proprietary software that can analyze and optimize not only energy performance of the home, but also efficient construction techniques with much less waste than the site built equivalents.

I am consulting with Blu Homes as they forge ahead in the modular home arena, and look forward to working with them as their innovations take shape. Despite the chilled climate in the home construction industry as a whole, I still believe this is a time of great opportunity for thoughtful, sustainable design.

The authorship of the MKD story was a result of hard work and investment on the part of many. I am happy to say that the designs created over the last five years are not dying, but rather will continue to live on in a new chapter. I love these home designs as though they are my offspring, so I am proud to see them go out into the world.

In addition, I will be working in my new practice, Michelle Kaufmann Studio. This work will include custom net-zero energy single family homes, either site built or modular construction as makes sense for the particular project, communities, including Aria Denver and the homes for the very cool nuns and Eco Resorts.

For more information on the preconfigured homes now offered by Blu Homes:
www.mkd-arc.com  and www.bluhomes.com

More on my new chapter: www.michellekaufmann.com

Photos of other homes by Blu Homes below.