Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Prefabricated construction is a hot topic in architecture these days, and for good reason. Prospective homebuilders around the world are gravitating to prefab as an environ-mentally responsible and cost-effective way to achieve that holiest of grails: an affordable, well-designed house. If you're hoping to jump onto this bandwagon or are just interested in what prefab building really entails, Prefab Prototypes is required reading. While other prefab books on the market show what can be done, dangling pretty pictures of affordable homes before your starry eyes, Prefab Prototypes takes you to the next stepit shows you how.

Architects Mark Anderson and Peter Anderson have been working with prefab buildings for more than fifteen years. With Prefab Prototypes , they break prefab down into six systems, from most flexible to most complicatedpanelized wood framing, sandwich paneling, steel framing, timber framing, concrete systems, and modular systems. Each chapter delves into the benefits and drawbacks of its respective method, and features detailed plans, sections, and photographs of projects they've completed that use each of these systems. The resulting book is both a lush depiction of their prefab output as well as an in-depth analysis that will prepare you for taking the plunge into prefab building. If you're familiar with the prefab trend and want to graduate to the next level, Prefab Prototypes is your guide.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

While the market for mass-produced prefabricated construction (think "trailer park") appears to be slowing, one specialized segment is experiencing a sharp upswing-architect-designed buildings in unapologetically modernist styles. The award-winning firm of Anderson Anderson Architecture, founded by the authors, exemplifies the growing number of firms expanding prefab's technical and aesthetic frontiers. This handsome portfolio showcases the Andersons' own proposed and executed projects of the last dozen years, most of them single- and multiple-family dwellings. The authors aim to convince readers that, contrary to the popular perception of prefab, each structure can be customized to the buyer's needs, tastes, and budget. Fully illustrated with photos, plans, drawings, and schematics and with a text that emphasizes building materials and the construction process, this book is best suited to a readership of architects and professional builders seeking inspiration from one of prefab's most creative proponents. A broader and more suitable overview for a general readership interested in high-end prefab homes is Jill Herbers's Prefab Modern.-David Solt?sz, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.