A midcentury modern house clad with cellular PVC siding and trim won a 2020 Urban Guild Award in the design exploration category, which recognizes visionary innovation.

The house was selected for reenvisioning the American manufactured home to take advantage of its affordability and containerlike characteristics with an eye toward haute design that can fit into a sophisticated urban environment.

The home consists of two structures totaling 1,650 square feet with a flat roof profile and 10-foot ceilings.

The sustainable elements include enhanced insulation, energy-efficient appliances and mechanical systems, and plenty of natural sunlight that can stream through five sliding glass doors and three types of windows.

The home was designed by Andrés Duany, co-founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, a movement that promotes walkable neighborhoods with diverse commercial and cultural uses and a range of housing for people of all ages and income levels.

"One challenge for today's designers and builders is finding durable modern materials that authentically reproduce the intent and detail of the classical materials used in traditional architecture," Duany said in a news release. "Enter industrial polymers and composites that can replicate virtually any architectural shape, from siding profiles to classical trim. These products also provide labor-saving benefits for the builder, as these products combine the tasks of multiple trades into a single application."

Cellular PVC siding cuts like wood; has almost twice the R value of wood and fiber cement; requires almost no maintenance; and doesn't rot, split, crack, warp, blister, flake, peel or delaminate. The material also resists termites and winds of 210 mph.

Duany's midcentury modern home, which can be set on four metal T-rails over a gravel bed for the foundation, was displayed at the 2020 International Builders' Show in January in Las Vegas, where the Vinyl Siding Institute helped with the showcase.

VSI is an Arlington, Va.-based trade group that represents manufacturers of polymeric siding and trim products in North America.

Fernando Pages Ruiz, a VSI consultant, said Duany's midcentury modern home was easily the most visited structure at the builders' show.

"The existence of a show-home clad with a VSI member's product designed by the most prominent New Urbanist and constructed by Dvele, a high-end homebuilder, is a victory for the polymeric industry, and many attendees were inspired by the product," Pages Ruiz said.

Last year, he co-authored a book called Architectural Design for Traditional Neighborhoods, and Duany wrote the forward. The book aims to get architects and production home builders on the same page about what makes a good neighborhood and how polymeric siding can add to the appeal.

Polymeric claddings include a variety of materials, from traditional vinyl to composites like cellular PVC siding to recent introductions, such as injection molded polypropylene shakes and insulated siding with significant R-value. The various product lines include hundreds of fade-resistant colors and shapes that reproduce almost all the traditional siding profiles.

"The goal with these continued innovations is to help designers and planners work within the limitations of the construction industry while taking advantage of building material innovations that add value to traditional neighborhood developments," Duany said.

» Publication Date: 29/07/2020

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