Durham Portable Home
Precedents Geiger -v. Zoning
Double Wide = Site Built = Mobile Home

Deborah Berke
Single Wide, Double Wide



Sarah Radding
Berke designed 12 modular house models for developer Harvey Gerber during the 1980's. Home buyers could order the model they selected from a factory in Pennsylvania and have them delivered to their site, where the different modules would be "buttoned up" to create the unit they had selected.

The models range in size from a basic 1,800 sq. ft. model called "doublewide" to a sprawling 3,500 sq. ft. ranch style home.

"The architect's myth about factory-built housing is that it can be an expression of technology. The industry, though, is geared to making it look as unindustrial as possible."

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Where Deborah Berke and Moshe Safdie may be said to be using near identical elements, Safdie revels in his use of stark materials. Berke's work, on the other hand, strives to fit itself into a suburban context, where conventional appearance is a premium.