PORT TOWNSEND — Architect Randy Fox wants to change the way people live.
A new creation by the Port Townsend building designer is questioning some of the longstanding tenets of common home construction.
For example, “Why do you need $20,000 worth of trim on your house?” Fox asked.
It’s a question Fox doesn’t have an answer for, so he’s thinking smaller — much smaller.
With his new Shed Boy modular housing designs, Fox has taken a popular Port Townsend meme, and turned it into a new way to buy a home, to live life and to reduce an individual’s economic and environmental footprint.
Fox has created five core designs of dwelling units that embrace a minimalist lifestyle.
The housing layouts range in size from 14-by-28 foot, condo-sized units to a micro 10-by-12 foot model titled “The Outlaw.”
“The idea here is to minimize waste,” Fox said.
“An average house has 10 to 15 percent waste in the construction and design.
“This will have none.”
What the units do have is functionality.
The Shed Boy design is nothing like the standard definition of a shed.
The homes contain several amenities one would expect to find in any standard living space.
“They are fully self-contained,” Fox said.
“They include a fridge, a stove, a sink, a microwave, toilet, bathroom sink, tub and shower.
“The only thing they are missing is a dishwasher.”
The larger units also have room for a double bed, a couch, chairs, a table, and a television set.
Every unit has a washer and a dryer ¬– even the super small “outlaw.”
“Without exception they have the washer and dryer,” Fox said.
They absolutely have to be self contained.”
He offers other options.
Floor layouts can be changed. The deck can be lifted up and locked, covering the entrance and windows to the unit. Windows can be moved around. Different roofs can be selected.
Fox said that more than 70 different configurations are available, but that the concept remains the same: efficiency.
At $100 per square foot, the units can easily be considered affordable housing, but Fox doesn’t like that term.
“It’s entry level,” he said.
“This is for the people who know what they want and where they want to live.”
“With a Shed Boy you can get a place in the uptown district without having to pay for a historic home and be a part of the community you want.
“That’s what it’s all about, what people want.”
Fox said the opportunities are limitless for the Shed Boy.
Modular housing
“You can use it for a cabin, you can use it for a place to live, you can add it to your current lot and generate income by renting,” he said.
“The idea is really part of a bigger picture, a larger vision.”
Fox’s vision is to create affordable, sustainable buildings.
He said he has a larger view for modular housing.
“The Shed Boy is the beginning, it’s what we have right now,” he said, “But we’re working on a lot more.”
Fox pulls up multiple designs for different types of houses that keep the cost low and efficiency high.
One design, a 900 square foot house, shares a quarter-acre lot with one of the shed boy designs.
“We took a loft out of a city building and plucked it down onto a lot here in town,” he said.
“We asked ourselves how we could take the ordinary things and make them great.”
Fox’s office is a testament to that question.
His computer sits on top of a desk made of recycled bowling alley floor and metal pipe.
The partitions are all made from recycled materials.
His office furniture was all found online at Craig’s List.
“The designs and ideas are all part of a whole packaged called the Smart House,” Fox said.
“It’s high-design and low-cost. It’s a small footprint and it’s efficiently built.”
For more information on the Shed Boy units, phone Fox at 360-344-3694 or visit his company online at www.shed-boy.com.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com.
