SAUD News Release

June 5, 2006
Contact: Cindy Muckey, School of Architecure and Urban Design, (785) 864-3709.

Studio 804 Hits Another Home Run with Modular 2

View of the Modular 2 house designed and built by Studio 804, Spring 2005

While most KU students were kicking back the day after New Year, 2005, eighteen architecture students enrolled in Professor Dan Rockhill’s Studio 804 were already back at Marvin Hall, working feverishly on the design of a modular home that would have to be built and ready for occupancy by mid-May. Their project, which was eventually named an Honor Award winner in the Boston Society of Architects’ “In the Pursuit of Housing” competition, had to be designed to fit a building site at 750 Shawnee Road just west of the KU Medical Center. The project was the studio’s second cooperative venture with City Vision Ministries (CVM), the Rosedale Development Association, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County. CVM, a non-profit community development corporation, served as the client/partner for the houses built by the studio in 2004 and 2005.

The students spent the first half of the semester working in a Lawrence warehouse, fabricating the 1,200-square-foot house in six modules. The six sections were then transported by truck to the Kansas City, Kansas, location where they were positioned on the concrete foundation. The Modular 2 home that they designed and constructed is a two-bedroom, one-bath, single-family house that incorporates more than 250 square feet of channel glass, and a translucent and structural glazing system. Other exterior finish items include cypress siding and salvaged aluminum cladding materials. The maple wood flooring in the house was salvaged from an area gymnasium. The interior includes stainless steel cabinets, birch armoires and maple doors with polygal translucent polycarbonate panel inserts.

Studio 804 was established by Rockhill as a hands-on design-build course in 1995. Over the years, the studio’s projects have earned international recognition and numerous awards. The Modular 1 house built in 2004 was named top Home of the Year international winner by Architecture magazine.

Students who participated in Studio 804 in 2005 included Matthew Bradley, Ryan Burton, Scott Clark, Joe Davidson, Mark Elsensohn, Stephen Elwood, Mike Gonos, John Howerton, David Kelman, Tony Lackey, Kylee Lashley, Griff Roark, John Schlueter, Basil Sherman, Amy Stecklein, Randy Taylor, Leanne Vesecky, and Jessica Weaver.

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