High Performance, High Design
BONE-ing Up on Design + Performance
Based in Laval, Quebec, BONE Structure designs and builds steel-frame structures with prefabricated components that are delivered for on-site assembly. But these are not typical manufactured homes. Many of the projects completed to date are custom, modern dwellings with soaring spaces and copious amounts of glass.
“If you take energy efficiency and light and views into consideration at the beginning of the project, you can get something amazing,” says Charles Bovet, who is head of BONE’s San Francisco office.
For example, the steel in BONE’s net-zero homes allows for design features-such as large windows and large spans (up to 25 by 50 feet) without the need for load-bearing walls-that wouldn’t be possible using traditional building methods.
Bovet reports R-values of 56 in the roof and 28.5 in the walls, as well as an ACH-50 rating of 0.8 air changes per hour. There’s no jobsite waste, since the components are cut to fit in the factory and are assembled error-free, he says.
In California, BONE Structure homes start at about $275 per square foot, but Bovet says the company’s objective is to evolve “into something like the new Tesla [automobile], which is expected to sell for $35,000. As we grow, [we’d like] to build homes for everyone.”
