This week our Prefab Friday radar went crazy when it detected A Clean Break’s green, prefab neighborhood in the City of Brotherly Love, hosted by Minima Gallery as a part of overall DesignPhiladelphia and National Design Week festivities. From October 17 to October 30 visitors can wander through a modern, green village featuring innovative design solutions from international architects and designers, including Alchemy Architects and Sustain Design/Altius Architecture. See what it means to live green in the neighborhood!


Unlike its counterpart in New York, the exhibit is geared to thinking about how prefab can become part of the urban fabric. A Clean Break shines a spotlight on aesthetically and ecologically clean prefab design that addresses issues of urban infill, 21st century development, and sustainability.

The full list of featured architects includes: Alchemy Architects, Elemental, Gans Studio and DArchitects, Interface Architects, Studio 804, and Sustain Design Studio and Altius Architecture— some homes are exhibited on the lot, but others will show only renderings.

Alchemy Architects have contributed the WeeHouse, a single module home with optional stacking units, attachable porches and modular stairwell connectors. We have covered these in the past here.

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Chile’s Elemental, a self-proclaimed “Do Tank” as opposed to a think tank, is a strong believer in developing innovative but affordable designs. They work through partnerships with the government to provide low-waste, efficient urban dwellings to help overcome poverty and inequity.

New Yorkers Gans Studio and dArchitects will show off this commissioned two-story design for a home that can be built by any Habitat for Humanity chapter. The featured home will actually be placed in North Philly later this year.

Philadelphia-based design firm Interface Studio will showcase affordable, prefab designs that will hopefully give new life to the city’s ubiquitous vacant lots and new homes to those who need them.

Studio 804 is a not-for-profit design/build program run by students at University of Kansas. The program focuses on creating sustainable solutions, including their latest project, Sustainable Prototype which is a public arts center in Greensburg.