The Glidehouse™ at Sunset.

Designed for clean, simple living, the Glidehouse™ modular home allows some customization by the owner. The Glidehouse is built in a factory, using the most modern and environmentally-friendly building methods and materials. It can be built in as little as four to six months, at a cost comparable to or below traditional site-built homes.

Clean Living

The Glidehouse™ modular home is designed to maximize organized storage along a bar on one side. The design reduces the feeling of clutter while increasing the feeling of living cleanly and lightly. The storage bar includes flexible storage for media, literature, clothing, and cooking objects. Gliding wood doors in front of the storage bar allow the transformation from a streamlined wood wall to easily accessible storage space.

The storage bar allows living spaces to remain clear and uncluttered. The opposite wall has gliding glass doors to offer maximum views and blurs the boundary between interior and exterior. This clean strategy offers much flexibility for people to customize the storage bar components to make the Glidehouse suit their specific needs.

Green Living

The Glidehouse™ modular home is designed to collaborate with nature. The design is based on basic sustainable—green—design principles. The house is designed as a series of shallow buildings to allow maximum natural ventilation. Through the use of the gliding glass wall and the opposite operable clerestory windows above the storage bar, breezes are maximized. Indirect lighting minimizes the need for electric lighting. Depending on the location, the house can either have solar panels, a geothermal, or a wind generator system, or a hybrid system. The exterior walls are made of maintenance-free Cor-Ten steel, Galvalume, Hardi panels or cedar planks to blend in with the context.

Through the implementation of sustainable design and solar, geothermal, or wind generator equipment, the Glidehouse™ modular home provides owners with reduced, if not eliminated, utility bills. The Glidehouse could be situated in a rural area, and through the use of solar, geothermal or wind generating equipment, the Glidehouse would not need to be connected to electricity lines, therefore reducing the long term cost of ownership and widening the range of potential building sites.

A modular home also affords construction efficiencies, virtually eliminating waste materials that are normally associated with new home building. Construction impact on the new home site is also minimized through factory-based modular home construction.

Plan Flexibility

The Glidehouse™ modular home is offered in several different standard floor plans: 1,344 sf for a 2-bedroom, 1,568 sf for a 3-bedroom, and a 2,240 sf 4-bedroom courtyard version. In addition, there is a 1,344 sf 2-story Glidehouse with 3 bedrooms. There are other floor plans to choose from, and all floor plans can be customized.

The Glidehouse can be configured to either fit well on an open lot with views (glass walls open onto the landscape), as well as an urban lot with neighbors (glass walls open onto two private courtyards). The glass walls, use of courtyards and openness blur the boundaries between interior and exterior, and makes the home feel much larger. The connected decks and courtyards feel like an extension of the living space.

Open Lots

The Glidehouse™ modular home can be configured for an open lot with maximum views on one side. It can be ordered in a 1,344 square foot 2-bedroom version (left), or a 1,568 square foot 3-bedroom version (not including outside decks which can be ordered as options). Other plans are available.

Lots with Neighbors

If you have neighbors, no problem. The Glidehouse™ modular home can be configured to have 2 private courtyards that allow the house to have maximum daylight and summer breezes, yet screened from nearby neighbors. It can be ordered in a 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom version with the square footage as above. Other plans are available.

Urban Lots

The 2-story Glidehouse™ is designed for smaller or urban lots, but also can be deployed to help preserve views from a hillside. The second story can orient the bedroom windows at the ends, or facing out. Other plans are available.

Tour a Glidehouse™

The first production Glidehouse™ modular home was debuted at Sunset Magazine's Celebration Weekend in May 2004. Additional photographs are part of Sunset's Photo Tour. Photographs of its construction, transport, and installation, as well as the finished home, can be seen at fabprefab. There is also a virtual tour of the Glidehouse. The next Glidehouse was completed in the San Francisco Bay area. It is open for tours hosted by the architect, by appointment only. Subscribe to the Glidehouse News (free registration required) and we'll be sure you get an invitation.

Getting into Your Glidehouse™

The factory cost for the Glidehouse starts at $140/sf (USD), with many options and extra-cost upgrades available. Additional costs include transport to and installation of the Glidehouse modules at your home site, as well as all site-specific costs, such as foundation, local permits and utility hookups. The Glidehouse Team will work with each customer on their overall budget.

The Glidehouse™ modular home is available immediately in many US states and Canadian provinces, and orders are now being accepted. Your Glidehouse will be built to all state and local building codes, for any environment, in any season. Your Glidehouse will arrive by flatbed truck, 90% complete, in as little as 8 months after order.

The quality construction process guarantees an extremely well-built home that includes an industry-standard warranty of two years on all plumbing/electrical/mechanical, and 10 years on structural and exterior finishes, under a Residential Warranty Corporation program.

Included in the Standard Building Package for the Glidehouse™

• All factory construction costs for labor and materials, including glass, plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems;
• All interior and exterior finishes, including flooring, wall finishes, cabinetry and plumbing and electrical fixtures, with many finish options; and
• State-stamped permits for the building structure.
• Manufacturer's warranty (2 years on all plumbing/electrical/mechanical, 10 years on structural and external finishes).

Not Included in the Standard Building Package for the Glidehouse™

• Site-specific costs such as local permits, foundation, and utility tie-ins;
• Transport and installation fees;
• Decks, garage, pools, or window coverings (available as upgrades from the factory);
• Major kitchen and laundry appliances; and
• Solar or other energy generation systems.

The Glidehouse Team will work with each customer to prepare a Glidehouse Budget, and no construction will begin until you accept our final cost estimates.

Your Next Steps

1. As soon as you have land and financing which matches your preliminary budget contact us so we can work with you to define your specific Glidehouse™ floor plan, as well as all interior/exterior options or upgrades. We will develop a site plan and a preliminary budget with you, including all estimated factory construction, transport and installation, and site-specific costs. Timeframe: 8-10 weeks.
2. Given your Glidehouse™ specifications, the Glidehouse Team will provide a final construction cost estimate (there will be no surprises relative to the home's construction, as is often the case in traditional home construction), for the Glidehouse™ you designed as well as any site-specific costs, such as transport and installation fees.
3. Upon acceptance of permitting from the state and your local building department, and the final cost estimate by you, your Glidehouse construction is started. Depending on orders ahead of yours at the factory, your Glidehouse can be occupied in as little as 8 months from the beginning of our process.

Please refer to the Glidehouse Process for complete details.

For More Information, Inquiries and Orders

The Glidehouse Process is detailed here. A budget builder is available here. Complete product and process details are included in the Glidehouse webpages.

To start the process of building your MKD modern modular home, contact Marshall Mayer, marketing and sales representative for Michelle Kaufmann Designs, by providing details about your project.

You may also be interested in the Sunset Breezehouse, Michelle Kaufmann Design's most popular design.