Michelle Kaufmann
Encyclopedia
Michelle Kaufmann is a leading green architect and designer with Michelle Kaufmann Studio.

In 2002, Kaufmann founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs, a full service architecture firm specializing in sustainable design. The firm designed and built single-family and multi-family green home
Green home
A Green home is a type of house useless area is designed to be environmentally friendly and sustainable, focusing on the efficient use of "energy, water, and building materials."-Components:...

s using prefabricated modular technology. The firm was closed in May 2009 and Kaufmann started a new design firm, Michelle Kaufmann Studio. Her firm offers customers a variety of prefabricated home
Prefabricated home
Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes, are dwellings manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled....

s as well as options for completely custom built homes as well.

Personal life

Kaufmann grew up in Iowa where she developed an understanding of the relationship between humankind and the environment. Kaufmann received her undergraduate degree from Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

 and her Masters from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

. Prior to founding Michelle Kaufmann Designs, Kaufmann was an Associate with Frank O. Gehry and had worked with him in Santa Monica. She also worked with Michael Graves
Michael Graves
Michael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....

.

Kaufmann relocated to Northern California, where she founded Michelle Kaufmann Designs. She has been a lecturer and keynote speaker for numerous events, and has taught at Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

 and Woodbury University
Woodbury University
Woodbury University, founded as "Woodbury Business College", is a private, non-profit, coeducational, nonsectarian university located in Burbank, California.-History:...

.

Kaufmann currently lives with her husband and their two dogs in their Glidehouse in Marin County, California.

Closure of Michelle Kaufmann Designs and opening of Michelle Kaufmann Studio

Kaufmann's eco-friendly architecture was well received by the public but her first architectural firm closed in 2009, after being open for five years. The original firm "grew to include two dozen staffers, operated its own factory outside Seattle and completed more than 40 prefab houses, most of them on the West Coast". A series of attempts were made to keep the studio going despite some financial setbacks; but soon it became clear that the turmoil from the late-2000s recession had hit Kaufmann's company hard. As Kaufmann put it in her blog: "Despite our best efforts, the financial meltdown and plunging home values have caught up with us. The recent closing of a factory partner, as well as the gridlocked lending faced by homeowners, has proved more than our small company can bear." Kaufmann continued assisting her clients after her first company had shut down, to help put them "in a position to build with other firms, if they choose".

In 2010, Kaufmann launched a new design firm, Michelle Kaufmann Studio.

Several of the homes she designed are now marketed by mkDesigns, a subsidiary of Blu Homes. However, Michelle Kaufmann is not now affiliated with Blu Homes.

Projects

The first project, titled Glidehouse, was built for Kaufmann and her husband Kevin Cullen in 2004. A full-size replica of this home was built for the National Building Museum
National Building Museum
The National Builders Museum, in Washington, D.C., United States, is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning"...

 in Washington, DC from May 2006 through June 2007 as a part of the exhibit The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design. The style is influenced by "Japanese homes, along with Eichler
Joseph Eichler
Joseph Eichler was a 20th century post-war U.S. American real estate developer known for developing distinctive residential subdivisions of Mid-Century modern style Tract housing in California, United States. He was one of the influential advocates of bringing modern architecture from custom...

 and Eames
Charles and Ray Eames
Charles Ormond Eames, Jr and Bernice Alexandra "Ray" Eames were American designers, who worked in and made major contributions to modern architecture and furniture. They also worked in the fields of industrial and graphic design, fine art and film.-Charles Eames:Charles Eames, Jr was born in...

, as well as the rural farm buildings from my childhood in Iowa".

The Sunset Breezehouse was built in collaboration with Sunset
Sunset (magazine)
Sunset is a lifestyle magazine in the United States. Sunset focuses on homes, cooking, gardening, and travel, with a focus almost exclusively on the Western United States...

 magazine in 2005.

The MKLotus design was built in front of San Francisco's city hall in 2007 as a part of West Coast Green conference on sustainable building. This design is among the smallest of the open-space homes offered by MK designs. It includes a "front wrap-around deck and enclosed meditation garden" and is "Intended as a vacation or small stand-alone home". It uses the same sleek, geometric shapes as her other designs.

The MKSolaire (http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/smart-home/) was exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

 within a show titled "The Smart Home: Green and Wired" which was open from May 2008- January 2009. The Solaire has been "redesigned to reflect the lifestyle of a couple looking to minimize home maintenance, maximize efficiency and settle in to a space that not only is beautiful, but functional".

Awards and honors

In 2007 Kaufmann was named the "Henry Ford of green homes" by Sierra magazine, published by the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...

. Kaufmann’s work is widely published and her homes have been showcased in a number of museums, including the National Building Museum, the Vancouver Art Center, MOCA
MOCA
-Museums:* Museum of Chinese in America, a museum in New York City which exhibits Chinese American history* Museum of Contemporary Art , any of several museums with this title...

 in Los Angeles, and most recently, in the “Smart Home: Green and Wired” exhibit at Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

.

Top Firm Award 2008 from Residential Architect magazine.

Innovations Award 2008 from Social Venture Network
Social Venture Network
The Social Venture Network is a network of socially responsible business leaders committed to building a just and sustainable world through socially and environmentally sustainable business. As of 2007, SVN has over 430 members in the United States....

.

Best Architecture Website from WebAwards 2008.

Kaufmann was named "Advocate of the Year 2009" by the National Association of Home Builders
National Association of Home Builders
The National Association of Home Builders is one of the largest trade associations in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, DC, NAHB's mission is "to enhance the climate for housing and the building industry...

.

website www.michellekaufmann.com (http://www.michellekaufmann.com)

Written Works

Prefab Green, published by Gibbs Smith, release date January 2009
(http://www.amazon.com/PreFab-Green-Michelle-Kaufman/dp/1423604970/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226594584&sr=8-1) written and designed by Cathy Remick

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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