Massachusetts firm will use $100,000 prize to send factory-built home to wildfire-ravaged Altadena

In January 2025, the Eaton Fire ravaged Altadena, CA, destroying thousands of homes and slowing the rebuilding process with permitting backlogs. Moira Ritter reports on how we pivoted our developer-focused model to address immediate housing need following the wildfire, winning the 2025 Ivory Prize for Construction and Design and securing $100,000 in grant funding to subsidize factory-built homes for residents.

Climate-resilient design is central to what we're building for California. Homes are manufactured in our Massachusetts microfactory to achieve exceptional airtightness (0.47 air changes per hour, exceeding Passive House standards) paired with fire-resistant facades, noncombustible materials, and integrated sprinkler systems. This precision matters: burning embers drive structure loss in wildfires, and airtight homes significantly reduce smoke infiltration and improve sheltering capacity.

The timeline is concrete: factory production begins in July, with the first homes shipping by August and installed by September. At $450 per square foot, our homes address Altadena's affordability challenge in a market where comparable properties range from $500 to over $3,000 per square foot. Altadena Town Council Vice Chair Nic Arnzen frames manufactured housing within the community's own history—referencing 1920s "Jane's Cottages," a four-plan residential development that established the model of coordinated, repeatable housing design a century ago.