A modular house dubbed The Picket Fence has arrived at its final destination in Pittsburgh’s Garfield neighborhood.
The residence was constructed offsite and delivered to an empty lot on North Aiken Avenue in December. Some additional interior and exterior work needed to be done as well as landscaping to the place, which appears at first glance to be one unit but is actually two.
The three-story structure incorporates a townhouse and a studio apartment, referred to as an accessory dwelling.
The entrance to the 2,007-square-foot townhome is in the back and the 660-square-foot studio is accessible from the front.
The entire house is on the market for $930,000 with Howard Hanna Real Estate Services.
The Picket Fence was built at Structural Modular Innovations in eastern Clarion County.
The foundation arrived as panels that were craned into place. The modules were set onto the foundation and secured by strapping them to the foundation system, said Dennis Steigerwalt, president of Housing Innovation Alliance in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, on a recent tour of the space.
The Picket Fence meets the requirements of the 2018 International Residential Code, the same as a traditional site-built home in terms of safety, energy efficiency, durability, etc., Steigerwalt said.
Modular building is gaining traction, according to Eric Newhouse, vice president of innovation at Structural Modular. The work can streamline construction practices, reduce construction time and limit embodied carbon and operational carbon emissions.
When building in a factory there is minimal cutting and material thrown aside, Steigerwalt said. The excess can be repurposed — as opposed to a typical site-built home where there is typically a large dumpster overflowing with leftover materials. There is also a digital design that reduces the number of variables.
“There are tens of thousands of empty residential lots in Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and similar cities,” Steigerwalt said. “This allows us to increase housing unit count while leveraging existing infrastructure.”
The one-bedroom, one-bathroom studio features an entry porch, a full kitchen and a living room. The townhome has three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a flex space, an entry porch, and a front-facing covered deck. The primary bedroom has an adjacent lounge area.
Both units have GE smart appliances and triple-pane windows throughout, which allow for plenty of natural light.
Views of the Cathedral of Learning on Pitt’s campus in Oakland are visible from the top level. Steigerwalt said fireworks from PNC Park and Acrisure Stadium on the North Shore can be seen from the spot as well.
The Picket Fence can be used as a multi-generational living space. The design is making a difference in the housing shortage because it helps to address availability and attainability, Steigerwalt said.
”There is a lot of flexibility in this home for how you want to live,” said Steigerwalt. “There is the opportunity to use it as part living space and part rental space.”
On May 1, a series of research projects were launched to monitor the overall performance of the home in terms of comfort, air quality, and energy efficiency. Data is being captured through Aug. 31.
Steigerwalt said there is a commitment from the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation to bring vacant spaces back to life. Garfield’s location is between UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh in Lawrenceville and the East End tech hub with Google, Duolingo and Philips.
”I think Dennis Steigerwalt, the developer behind the project, has accomplished something truly amazing with his use of every square foot of space in the house,” said Richard Swartz, executive director of the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, via email. “The energy efficiency of the structure is also chart-topping. Although it does not qualify as affordable housing, we’re pleased that he picked Garfield as the neighborhood in which to undertake this project.”
A gallery of photos of The Picket Fence can be found here.