Fishing expedition

Residential Architect, July, 2004 by Meghan Drueding

Rocio Romero first made a splash in the modular home market with her LV Home, a Modern prefab prototype based on a vacation home she designed for her parents. This month the Perryville, Mo.-based architect is coming out with a new, more casual prototype she calls the Fish Camp. Meant as an outbuilding buyers can use for entertaining and relaxing, the project measures 288 square feet inside and contains a deck of the same size. "The Fish Camp is more of an outdoor pavilion," says Romero. "It's a fun place to go and hang out, for kids or adults."

As with the LV House, some of the Fish Camp's components will be made by Romero and her staff, while others will be subcontracted. She's built the project on the same site as her Perryville warehouse, so potential buyers can see the simple, shed-roofed building for themselves. There it's elevated on piers to avoid flooding from a nearby creek, but a slab-on-grade foundation would work equally well. The basic materials palette consists of corrugated Galvalume, Lexan, plywood, Luan, and oriented strand board. Interiors can be upgraded: equipped with custom stainless steel cabinetry, for example, or outfitted with solar panels and an eco-toilet and eco-shower for off-the-grid use.

Romero knows how to deliver the flexibility that adventurous modular home buyers crave. The project's building kit includes drawings that show how to convert it into a home office and guest room. She also plans to offer weatherproofing so the camp can function as a year-round residence. "People are looking at either putting it on a piece of property out in a natural setting or using it as a barbeque/pool cabana," she says.

"We also have some people wanting to make the LV their main house and have Fish Camps around it." The Fish Camp kit, which includes wall panels, a roof structure, and building instructions, will retail for a base price of about $10,000.