LivingHome’s new C6 prefabricated home is groundbreaking in a world of expensive modern, green prefabs. We’ve been covering modern green prefab on Inhabitat for years, and while there has always been a flood of interest in the concept of modern design, prefabricated homes, the biggest question we always hear from readers is: “Why is this stuff so expensive? Is green design only for the wealthy?”

While the answer to the above question is complicated, and is mainly an issue of low consumer demand and no economy of scale – with the new LivingHomes C6, we’re thrilled to see a mass-market prefab home that manages to reach affordability while also maintaining high quality design standards and a modern aesthetic.

In fact, LivingHomes’ newly released C6 is the most affordable LEED certified prefab to ever come to market, but the company’s game-changing ways date back more than half a decade ago when the company first made a name for itself with a stunning prefab home collaboration with famed architect Ray Kappe. The sustainable prefab “Living Home” that resulted from that collaboration was the first in the nation to achieve LEED Platinum, and it was the only home to win the AIA’s top sustainability award in 2007. LivingHomes has been hard at work over the last six years, churning out new designs frequently — all LEED Platinum rated — that have continued to push the boundaries with green design. But it’s the company’s latest efforts with the C6 Home that really stand to make an impact on a wider consumer base.

Unlike previous LivingHomes designs, which were price between $250-$300 per square foot, the new C6 Home manages to achieve an impressive $145 per square foot. This new benchmark of affordability allows the home to be available to a wider variety of potential prefab home buyers, including young families and other buyers with more modest budgets. LivingHome’s collaboration with the country’s largest prefab home manufacturer, Cavco, is what allowed the company to produce the most affordable green prefab on the market today.

LivingHomes founder and CEO Steve Glenn with Nate Kredich, VP, Residential Market Development, USGBC; Lindsay Chason, Senior Manager, Environmental Innovation, The Home Depot; Delta Wright, Co-Founder, Curated!

“It has always been our most important goal to develop an affordable LivingHome,” said Steve Glenn, CEO of LivingHomes.  “The C6 is not only our lowest cost LivingHome – it’s half the cost of current models – but it’s also the first to achieve our most important Z6 Environmental Goals, and, we believe it’s the first production home to feature Cradle-to-Cradle inspired materials and a LEED Platinum level environmental program. It’s also the easiest and fastest LivingHome to build.”

The C6, built by Cavco, is available in most states for $179,000, and can be fully constructed in less than two months and installed on-site in a day.

The design of the C6 is inspired by the homes built by developer Joe Eichler throughout California in the 50s and 60s. The layout of the C6 is organized around a courtyard that is accessible through a various points in the house and features an open floor plan that plays on building an outdoor/indoor lifestyle.

The 1,200 square foot home includes 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and eco systems and finishings, including cork floors, a customizable energy efficient lighting system, solar PVs, a greywater system, low-flow water fixtures, plenty of efficient windows and numerous Cradle-to-Cradle inspired products built in. The C6 is also the first LivingHome to achieve most of LivingHomes’ Z6 Environmental Goals: Zero Energy, Zero Water, Zero Emissions, Zero Carbon, Zero Waste, and Zero Ignorance.

The new LivingHome was designed as part of a new partnership with Make It Right, a nonprofit founded by Brad Pitt and renowned architect William McDonough to build 150, Cradle to Cradle inspired LEED Platinum homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, the neighborhood hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of each C6 will help support the efforts of Make It Right.

+ LivingHomes

Previous LivingHomes coverage on Inhabitat:

+ LivingHomes Open in Santa Monica, CA
+ LivingHomes Unveils KierenTImberlake KTLH1.5 Home
+ LivingHomes delivers KieranTImberlake prefab in Orange County

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