The story behind Sir Waltar Lindal (“Sir” is the translation of his given Icelandic name, Sculi) and his company Lindal Cedar Homes, is fascinating. After Lindal spent time in the Canadian Army during World War II inventing weaponry modifications, working up the ranks, and seeing the benefits of prefabricated housing at work in Army camps, he had the idea that the same construction methods could be used to create precut homes for the consumer market. He went on to develop a booming kit home business first based out of Toronto, then Vancouver, and now Seattle, where his children have taken hold of the reigns. An inventor at heart, Lindal holds over 17 patents, one of which is for an A-Frame cabin, which was pictured on the 1966 cover of Popular Mechanics.
Lindal’s A-Frame cabin went on to become wildly successful with vacation homeowners because it offered an affordable way to build a beautiful and functional vacation home. Materials for the cabin came pre-cut and were delivered to the site, where they were assembled. The A-Frame cabin revolutionized vacation homes by utilizing a simple design with a high, steep, pitched gable roof, a two-story wall of glass on either end, living space on the bottom, and a loft upstairs. A glass wall allowed the owners to experience their surroundings in a whole new way without leaving the comfort of their own home. The home was also energy-efficient, inexpensive, and easier to build than other vacation homes out there, and they can withstand the elements through the years with little maintenance.
Now in its 65th year, Lindal Cedar Homes chose to celebrate its past by reinventing their classic A-frame cabin and unveiling the Modern A-Frame. Staying true to the original spirit of the A-Frame, the Modern A-Frame is compact, bold, and features full-height glass walls, loft space, and the same no-nonsense building process that that accompanied the original. However this time around, the homeowner has the opportunity to customize the cabin and go beyond a simple triangular design. The Modern A-Frame is based on a system of three building blocks, which can be rotated to take advantage of different views and orientations. Flat or pitched roofs and various other additions can also be included to create your own dream home.
Designs for the MAF are based on series of three predefined shapes that can be put together to create 18 different room types, which results in hundreds of different customized home designs. Five pre-designed homes are also available in sizes ranging from 1,200 sq ft to 1,900 sq ft. Lindal’s local dealers, most of whom are NAHB Certified Green Professionals, help design each home specifically for its site, taking into account environmental conditions and solar passive design. The homes are built with Western Red Cedar from British Columbia, engineered framing, and other sustainable materials, and they can easily accommodate photovoltaic and rainwater catchment systems. All of the parts for the homes are pre-cut and sent as a kit to the building site, minimizing the environmental impact of shipping.
In the following weeks, we’ll be covering each of the Modern A-Frame homes in more detail through a series of posts — stay tuned as we explain the building process and show how easy it is to design and build a Lindal Cedar Modern A-Frame Home!
