Motivation For Courtyard Manufactured Subdivision

Although the mobile home arguably arose first as an auxiliary vehicle for the automobile, coming onto the scene soon after the automobile went into mass production, it was almost immediately repurposed as a permanent dwelling by the less affluent according to Allan Wallis, author of the book 'Wheel Estate'. Now as these early adopters of the mobile home didn't have much money its understandable that early mobile home parks had a spare, almost desolate look, had only rudimentary landscaping and were almost devoid of outdoor privacy. And yet many mobile home park tenants landscaped their homes and fashioned private outdoor spaces with considerable ingenuity. There even seems to have arisen a kind of convention where mobile home tenants take exclusive use of one of the two outside areas between homes. There they set up their tables and chairs and grill and storage shed and makeshift privacy screens.

On the other hand, the early suburban communities were initially places for the affluent. One of the first, Lewellyn Park in West Orange, NJ, sold acreage lots. One of its most famous residences, the Thomas Edison home, sits on 8 acres. From the get go the suburban house was associated with affluence while the mobile home park was associated with thrift. Now whether there are or are not actual class distinctions in societies is outside the scope of this brief post. Suffice to say a lot of us probably fear that there are, and do what we can to suggest we are to be found on a higher rather than lower rung of the class ladder. I think for instance that the whole McMansion phenomenon has its roots in this anxiety about being 'misclassed' downwards by ones peers. I mention this only to try to account for the consistently low numbers manufactured racks up in comparison to site built. Manufactured housing sales seem frozen in place, accounting for right around 10% of total annual home starts. The decisive factor for many in purchasing a home seems to have as much to do with the status the home confers as the pleasure and practicality the house affords.

By introducing the courtyard manufactured subdivision, the hope is to so delight potential homebuyers as to overcome any initial reservations regarding manufactured. I noted earlier an inclination on the part of mobile home park residents to customize and give privacy to the outdoor space around their homes. I've simply abstracted and elaborated on these inclinations, bringing to the manufactured subdivision privacy walls, auxiliary storage, the carport, and a place to put in the various pieces of pleasant outdoor living. I've drawn up several variations on this theme but have come to the conclusion that the most practical is probably the simplest where lots are at 45 degrees to the street:

The lot boundaries are indicated by the red line at the top of the walls. This drawing set is meant to serve as a template where the boundaries shown in red are fixed, but where there is still a certain amount of freedom as to what and where other features and structures can be placed. As shown there is a raised terrace next to the street connected to a storage shed whose length can be adjusted as needed. A carport is adjacent to this storage shed and just to the front of the house. Realistically each home should probably be sufficiently embellished to appraise to a certain minimum value if for no other reason than to keep the tax accessor happy, to have the property generate its fair share of public school revenue. Now since 55+ communities do not put an additional load on public schools their appraisal value can be less.

Here is an embellished version of this same template with pool, spa, outdoor kitchen, dining, and living and with a somewhat longer storage section:

The manufactured homes shown above are 3 bed 2 bath of around 1,650 sq. ft. and for which a fuller description and drawing set is available here. I've tried to follow Frank Lloyd Wright's approach of making the living room as large as possible, and I make the focal point the very large format projection TV.

Now I mentioned the 55+ homeowning demographic. My impression is that 55+ communities tend toward 2 bedroom units on small lots - in which case a subdivision configured as shown in the drawing below might be more appropriate. It uses the same courtyard idea only on smaller lots and with two bedroom singlewides:

A fuller description of this design is given here. The lots are right at 4,300 sq. ft. which works out to around 10 units per acre. I should mention that because of the more compact design, the storage shed is apportioned equally between adjacent units, a detail hopefully clarified in the drawings.

Lastly I have sketched up 'entry level' manufactured housing, small studio style apartments made by partitioning an 18 ft. x 75 ft. singlewide into 4 equal parts. Although quite small - on the order of a tiny home - this design carries out the same courtyard idea outfitted with storage shed, and outdoor dining and living:

The thought here was that such a design might prove suitable to buyers in the tiny home market, and also serve as alternative digs for studio apartment dwellers. Further details here.