Press

RIALTO, California – October 3, 2019 — Plant Prefab, the first prefabricated residential design and construction company dedicated to sustainable building, materials, processes, and operations, announced today the Nest LivingHome toolkit, a scalable, multi-family housing solution designed with Brooks + Scarpa. Plant’s first multi-family system, the Nest “kit-of-parts” is adaptable for a variety of different urban lot conditions and housing program needs.

“Brooks + Scarpa is one of the top design firms in the nation and the work they’ve done in sustainable, affordable housing, in particular, is among the most innovative in the industry,” says Plant Founder and CEO, Steve Glenn. “By offering an adaptable, prefabricated “kit-of-parts,” Nest LivingHomes offers developers and affordable housing organizations a flexible solution they can use now for smaller, urban infill lots in order to build affordable housing faster and for a lower cost than traditional, site-based approaches.”

The Nest LivingHomes toolkit is grounded in the belief that housing for the homeless should be scattered throughout regions, rather than having housing concentrated in one community. A main goal for the concept was to give homeless people a sense of dignity and shared social spaces on underutilized parcels of land.

“As the demand and cost for housing continues to rise, Nest was conceived to provide a scalable, cost-effective, high-quality solution to multi-family housing,” explains Angie Brooks, Managing Principal, Brooks + Scarpa. “Like the nesting habits of birds, the toolkit is based on the different ways people live with the objective of giving everyone an affordable place to live.”

All Plant homes, including Nest units, are constructed in Plant’s custom homebuilding factory in Rialto, CA, which cuts the construction timeline in half and significantly reduces project costs. The Nest concept is based on the Plant Building System, Plant’s patented, component-based construction platform. “We know that people are frustrated by the slow pace of solutions for affordable housing,” adds Glenn. “Prefab construction can help increase the pace.”

Following partnerships with Kieran Timberlake, Yves Béhar, and Ray Kappe, Brooks + Scarpa was a natural choice to collaborate with Plant. Building a new, single-family or multi-family home is a large undertaking, which is why Plant partners with renowned architects and designers to offer standard Livinghomes. With Plant having already researched and selected the most long-lasting and sustainable materials, clients can select from a growing number of home models and can even configure some online with finishes, fixtures, and systems they select.

Nest LivingHomes won a $1 million grant from the 2018 LA County Housing Innovation Challenge, which sought projects that address the homelessness epidemic. The grant will support a development for the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, which is currently securing land for the project.

Nest will also be featured in an upcoming public exhibition at the 18th Street Arts Center’s Airport Gallery. DENSE-CITY: Housing for Quality of Life and Social Capital will run from October 19 - December 14 and feature models, plans, and drawings from two decades of Brooks + Scarpa projects, including the new Nest LivingHome.

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ABOUT PLANT PREFAB:
With a mission to make it faster and more cost-effective to build custom, high quality, healthy, single and multifamily homes, Plant Prefab is the first prefabricated residential design and construction company dedicated to sustainable building, materials, processes, and operations.

All Plant projects are prefabricated in the company's 62,000-square-foot home factory in Rialto, CA, with a patented building system that reduces build time by at least 50% over traditional construction while minimizing construction's negative impact on energy, water, and resources. Clients can work with any architect they choose, or they can use Plant's award-winning, in-house design studio, LivingHomes.

Plant is defining a new standard in residential home design and construction, helping individuals, architects and developers alike efficiently design and build high-quality, cost-efficient, healthy homes. Plant was funded by Amazon, Obvious Ventures, and others.

ABOUT BROOKS + SCARPA:
Brooks + Scarpa is a collective of architects, designers and creative thinkers dedicated to enhancing the human experience. Honored with the 2014 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, the firm is a multi-disciplinary practice that includes architecture, landscape architecture, planning, environmental design, materials research, graphic, furniture and interior design services that produces innovative, sustainable iconic buildings and urban environments. Awarded the 2010 State of California and National American Institute of Architecture Firm Award for nineteen years of consistently exemplary work seamlessly blending architecture, art and craft, Brooks + Scarpa has also garnered international acclaim for the creative use of materials in unique and unexpected ways. The firm has also been recognized for pioneering more holistic approaches to delivering award winning environmentally responsive designs.