Dwell retools on prefab with Marmol Radziner, Turkel Design

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Put this one in the category of Interesting Timing. Just as other modern prefab companies are scaling back or calling it quits -- and as real-estate developers and architecture firms of all sizes continue to struggle -- Dwell magazine is launching a new iteration of its prefab construction arm.

At its Dwell on Design conference this weekend in Los Angeles, the company will unveil a new collaboration, under its Dwell Homes Collection label, with architecture firms Marmol Radziner and Turkel Design.

Turkel -- run by Joel Turkel, an architect and a veteran of Empyrean, the company that developed Dwell’s prefab line before abruptly closing last year -- will design three prefab houses for Dwell Homes. L.A.’s Marmol Radziner, which recently shuttered its own prefab factory in Vernon, will offer six. The houses will be built by Lindal Cedar Homes, an established manufactured-home company based in Seattle.

My guess is this is more about the appearance of momentum for Dwell’s prefab efforts than actual momentum.

-- Christopher Hawthorne

Related coverage:

Prefab movement needs to rethink its model

Green prefab firm Michelle Kaufmann Designs is closing

Photo: Turkel Design’s TD3 for Lindal Cedar Homes. Credit: courtesy of Dwell Homes Collection