Hyatt Hotel Corporation Sales Center- Puerto Rico

Corporate Collaboration

The HYATT Hotel Corporation came to Acorn Deck House Company to supply the residential sales center for a new high-rise time-share condominium project they built in Puerto Rico. The wide overhangs, covered porches and airy interior were perfect for this tropical climate.

As in any large commercial project timing was critical and having the building pre-engineered, pre-cut and panelized allowed the HYATT Corporation to begin their sales program early on.

Special design consideration for the very high winds and hurricane conditions of this Caribbean location was included from the beginning. This turned out to be advantageous as only six months after completion the island was hit with 120 mph winds. Windows and furniture were sucked out of the upper floors of the condominiums while the Deck House structure suffered only a minor leak.

The Living Connection

The HingeHouse by Maryann Thompson is a fully customizable, next-generation "prefab" home, which can be configured to meet the needs of your site and your family. The exterior form is sculptural and dynamic, and interior spaces are soaring, lofty, and light-filled. The 'hinge' of the home, where the two living spaces come together, has the added benefit of creating a highly desirable living room, complete with an outdoor fireplace. The "hinge" is not just a tool for enhancing customization and spatial orientation; it is a fulcrum of activity at the heart of the home.

“Prefab” yet Site Specifi­c

Using basic floor plans the house can easily be customized to any site, by rotating around its “hinge” points.

To allow for a passive solar orientation

To allow for southern exposure in northern climates

To allow for northern exposure in southern climates

To address prevailing winds on the site and maximize cross ventilation

To preserve existing rocks and trees

To work with sloping grades

To address specifi­c or desired views or deny unwanted adjacencies

To address a variety of entry sequences

In this sense the house can be general/repeatable and site specifi­c at once. Rather than a static, linear floor plan, the floor plan is playful, fun, unfolding and full of surprises and can address the idiosyncrasies of the site. Utilizing the standard Acorn Deck House Company system’s “kit of parts” a lyrical composition of single-sloped roof forms can be made.

The exterior form can be sculptural and dynamic, allowing for a soaring and lofty interior space and an opportunity for light to penetrate the living spaces from above. Using the existing Acorn Deck House Company sloped roof “kit of parts” allows us to create something wonderful and new that is unlike anything in the current prefab space. The sloping roof planes bring in streams of light from above. The forms of the roof planes act as “light gatherers,” and are composed to maximize light qualities within the house. The interior spaces are perforated with light. The white interiors allow the light to be reflexive, glittering and maximized.
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Design Firm: RH Design

This house is the first of three buildings that build upon the sustainable principles of New England Farm house designs. The three buildings will frame a courtyard that faces South-East, leveraging the warm morning sun and southern exposure during the day, while minimizing the harsh western sun in the evening. The house is located in an extremely cold climate, on the side of a mountain top in the Berkshires. Snow and cold winds are prevalent.

Orientation : The house is oriented towards the South (the length of the house is essentially on an East-West axis). The large overhangs on the Southern facade minimize solar hear gain during the hottest months.

Thermal Mass : During the cooler months, the sun penetrates the large glass openings and the heat is stored in the concrete floors and released during the evening hours, when the temperature drops considerably. The house uses a radiant heating system in the concrete floors. The radiant heating system uses hot water from a high efficiency furnace.

Color : The exterior siding is stained dark to absorb more heat during the colder winter months.

Metal Roof : the standing-seam metal roof uses recycled materials. No toxins were used during its production (unlike asphalt shingle roofs). It is a 50 year roof, a opposed to the 25 year shingle.

Interior Materials : The interior catwalk uses fire-escape graded materials, and thus practices economic sustainability. The high efficiency wood burning fire place is faced with cement board. The careful placement of the joints allows this materials to be used as a finish material.

The Watermark

United Kingdom

 Developer Collaboration

The Watermark is the largest developement within the Cotswold Lakes and covers over 40 square miles. It is made up of 140 lakes in total of which The Watermark occupy and manage over 540 acres.
The Watermark is a tranquil and impressive development of second homes for holiday use offering a range of leisure facilities including its own fishery, water-skiing, cable-skiing and sailing lakes as well as a health and fitness club, tennis courts, and so much more.

Westport House

Design: Studio ABK Architects       Building System: Hybrid (Panelized and Post&Beam)

Location: Westport Conneticut       Size: 4,600 SF

"Initial skepticism about the ability for a prefab company to manufacture a custom home of this caliber quickly gave way to enthusiastic collaboration after a visit to the Acorn Deck House Company factory.

As we approach the first decade of the 21st century, attitudes toward designing and building homes require some evolution and updating. Working with a prefabrication company like Acorn Deck House allows the architect and his/her clients a much wider degree of design flexibility, material quality, and cost control that was not readily available in the previous century. Such was the case with this dynamic new home in Westport, Connecticut."

Kieth Krolak, principal of Studio ABK Architects and lead designer of the Westport House

Design: BTA Architects
Size: 4,400 SF
Location: Orleans, MA
Construction Time: 8 months

Acorn Deck House Company Advantages: countered high labor costs of the traditional stick-built construction process, constant cost estimating, expedited construction schedule, predictability