home
living
Forest Stewardship Council–approved plywood, birch, and bamboo dominate the Loblolly House’s interior (above) and exterior (right). The home’s translucent folding skin (below, right) and floor-to-ceiling
windows (bottom) together offer stunning views, warmth, and breezes, depending on the weather.
that contain all the electrical, micro-ducts,
radiant heating, and fire detection wiring.
While other prefab companies require
lengthy off-site work to build in utilities,
Kieran Timberlake’s solution saves time
and reduces environmental impact.
The exterior wall panels fold to create a
striking visual effect and also house insulation,
windows, and interior finishes. The structure
is predominantly wood; every square inch
except the aluminum framing is Forest
Stewardship Council–approved plywood,
birch, or bamboo. All finishes are nontoxic. A
west wall is designed with airplane-hangar
doors that allow the home to open to the
offshore breezes in the summer, while a solar
panel captures heat in the winter, boosting
temperatures inside by 30 percent.
And the home does not sacrifice
aesthetics for technical chops, avoiding the
sterility of many contemporary glass-andsteel residences. The wood-fenestration
effect artfully compliments the ethereal
beauty of the loblolly pine. As one teenage
visitor commented, “I get it. It’s like
camouflage.” Kieran explains further, “We
wanted to connect the house to the forest,
have it feel a bit random, akin to nature. The
effort on our part was to make the house
not just in nature but of nature.”
Raising the home on structural piles
provides added environmental benefits to
the fragile coastal land on which the Loblolly
House rests. By reducing surface weight
on the site, the design allows soil to erode
naturally, and the home doesn’t prevent tides
or wild animals from crossing underneath. The
height also befits the designers’ inspiration:
the idea of a functional tree house. “It has the
simultaneous joy of the tree house: the danger
element—you’re up high—with the security
of being removed,” Kieran explains.
Interest in the Loblolly House has been so
intense that the firm has a book coming out
in May, Loblolly House: Elements of a New
Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press).
When asked about the future of prefabricated,
kit-of-parts architecture, Kieran is confident.
“We think it has legs,” he says. “We’re hoping
on it. No, we’re counting on it.” ✤
54 | february-march 2008