????預制式房屋早已有之：上個世紀之交，人們就可以從西爾斯公司（Sears）的產品目錄中訂購組裝房。但沒過多久，它們就獲得了粗制濫造、設計不討人喜歡的聲譽（想一想拖車式住宅）。新一代的建筑師和設計師則認為，我們沒有理由設計不出樣子好看、質量可靠的預制式房屋。

????事實證明，預制或許是最環保的建房方式。在工廠建造房屋可以減少浪費——工廠可以精確測量、切割材料。此外，只需幾周時間，一棟預制式建筑就可拔地而起——這樣就不必勞煩工人耗費數月時間，駕駛著噴涌溫室氣體的卡車奔赴建設工地了。今年早些時候，在《財富》雜志（Fortune）主辦的頭腦風暴綠色會議上，Blu Homes公司創始人兼CEO比爾?哈尼指出了預制式房屋的另一個優點：“沒人能夠按時或者按照預算建造一棟傳統住宅。《今日心理學》（Psychology Today）援引一項研究稱，建造房屋比失去摯愛的人更令人痛苦。”

????哈尼為他的預制式環保房屋增添了某種高科技元素。Blu Homes公司應用麻省理工學院（MIT）開發的技術，設計出使用鋼架結構、可以像一張輕便小桌那樣繞著鉸鏈折疊的現代建筑。如今，大多數預制式房屋必須依靠寬敞的負載卡車運送。這種過于龐大的卡車無法在許多道路行駛，必須由護送車押運才行，從而導致非常高昂的運輸費用。相比之下，一棟“藍色之家”（Blue Home）能夠折疊起來裝入一輛18輪卡車，這樣就可以相對廉價而容易地把房屋運出這家公司位于加州瓦列霍市的工廠。

????另一項優勢是，為了方便卡車運輸，傳統的預制式房屋需要裝成四四方方的模塊，從而限制了房間大小和天花板高度。“藍色之家”完全可以是一棟擁有教堂式穹頂的大房子。

????從465平方英尺（約合43平米）的Origin（售價13萬美元，不包括地基和現場準備）到3,000平方英尺的Breeze（優雅的加州現代風格住宅，起價54萬美元），這家公司推出的房屋面積不等。在房屋的環保性方面，Blu Homes公司使用無廢氣排放材料（包括低揮發性、甚至完全沒有揮發性的有機涂料），以及不含甲醛的材料。這些房屋高度隔熱，而且配有太陽能電池板，從而能夠大幅降低能源成本。

????這家公司已經募集了6,900萬美元，投資者包括迪士尼家族和斯堪的納維亞投資公司斯卡恩集團（Skagen Group）。公司預計今年可以在全美各地銷售超過100套房屋。Blu Homes（目前還沒有盈利）表示，它去年的預定銷售額達到了4,000萬美元，今年則有望突破7,000萬美元。問及有什么讓他夜不能寐時，哈尼回答說：“我最擔心的問題是能不能在高速發展的同時保持產品的質量。”這也是許多CEO都要面對的一個重大問題。（財富中文網）

????譯者：任文科

????Prefab houses have been around forever -- at the turn of the last century you could order a kit house from the Sears catalogue -- but they soon achieved a reputation for shoddy workmanship and unappealing design (think trailer-style homes). A new generation of architects and designers have decided that there's no reason prefab houses can't look great and be of high quality.

????Turns out, prefab may be the most environmentally friendly way to build a house. When a house is built in a factory there's less waste -- materials can be precision measured and cut -- plus a prefab structure can be erected within a couple of weeks -- avoiding months and months of workmen driving greenhouse gas spewing trucks to the site. One speaker at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference earlier this year, Bill Haney -- founder and CEO of Blu Homes, cited another advantage of prefab housing: "No one can build a traditional house on time or on budget. Psychology Today cited a study that said it's more painful to build a house than it is to have a loved one die."

????Haney has added a high-tech element to his prefab green houses. Applying technology developed at MIT, Blu Homes designs its modern structures using steel frames that fold on hinges much like a card table. Today, most prefab homes must be delivered at great expense on wide-load trucks that are too big to travel on many roads and have to be accompanied by escort cars. A Blue Home, by contrast, can be folded up to fit on an 18-wheeler, allowing the house to be shipped relatively cheaply and easily from the company's factory in Vallejo, Calif.

????Another advantage: Because traditional prefab houses are shipped in boxy modules that need to fit on a truck, there's a limit on the size of rooms and heights of ceilings. A Blu Home can unfold into large rooms with soaring cathedral ceilings.