Bensonwood in the News
Rebuilding after the Alstead Flood
Kmic's Garage, destroyed in the 2005 Alstead Flood, is being rebuilt by a group of local volunteers. Bensonwood designed the building and is active on-site. NHPR covered the story on Monday, July 28th. The Keene Sentinel wrote an article about it on Friday June 25th.
Bright Built Barn: Sustainable net-zero homes
May 7, 2008 article in Residential Architect
"Second OPEN Prototype Initiative House in Progress"
Tedd Benson, Maverick Builder, Addresses Grads at Unity: America's Environmental College
Tedd Benson delivers commencement speech at Unity College, Unity, ME
THIS OLD HOUSE® BUILDS NEW PREFAB TIMBERFRAME HOME IN WESTON, MASSACHUSETTS
The Emmy Award-winning television show This Old House partners with custom homebuilding company, Bensonwood, to build a new, highly sustainable timberframe home that will reflect old New England barns built centuries ago.
Unity House: A Prototype for 21st Century Homebuilding
The OPEN Prototype Initiative Unveils Unity House – A Mass-Producible, Customizable, Sustainable, and Adaptable Green Home
OPEN_2 featured in Press Herald
The Portland Press Herald wrote a feature about the upcoming OPEN_2 project at Unity College. Read it here.
Bensonwood Project on Taunton Press Forums
A Bensonwood home going up in Maine is being discussed on the Fine Homebuilding Forums. If you want to see the photos (and read the reactions) you'll need to create an account. Take a look.
Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build
Monadnock Habitat for Humanity recently completed an extraordinary project in Alstead, New Hampshire. Led by Tedd Benson, the team built a 2,100 sq. ft. home for Rick and Caroline Oberst and their eight children, in just eight days! Over 50 businesses and 450 individuals volunteered products, supplies, and their time for this project. The "Blitz Build" took place August 18th - 25th, 2007. Bensonwood employees donated time and expertise, and provided the use of the Bensonwood facilities for pre-building many components of the house.
One of the key factors in achieving this short build time was the use of Bensonwood's innovative Open-Built® systems. With the majority of the site crew being volunteers with little or no construction experience, it was essential to make the build as uncomplicated as possible. Take a look at our Open-Built® pages for more information about this efficient and highly customizable approach to home building.
For pictures and stories about the Habitat for Humanity project, visit Monadnock Habitat for Humanity Alstead Blitz Build, or the Keene Sentinel Alstead Blitz Build pages.
- The Habitat Blitz Build project was featured on the Environmental News Network.
Architectural Digest
The September 2007 issue of Architectural Digest features some excellent photos of the timberframe home designed by Bernard Wharton (for himself) and built by Bensonwood. It is noted in the article that reclaimed Douglas fir timbers were used throughout the home. See pages 248 - 250 for the photos.
Older News
Loblolly House
Designed by KieranTimberlake Associates, this unusual and amazing home was fabricated and built by Bensonwood.
- Inga Saffron. "Custom Prefab Home is at One with Nature and Technology." Philadelphia Inquirer. July 14, 2007. F25.
- Clifford A. Pearson. "Loblolly House, Maryland." Architectural Record. April 2007. 140-146.
- Architectural Record has an article about the Loblolly house on their web site.
- The Nanawall Systems Website has a beautiful picture looking out from the interior of the Loblolly house.
OPEN Prototype
- The OPEN Prototype project was featured on CBS 4 Boston.
- Dawn Stover. "Building Blocks." Popular Science. November 2006. 79-84, 124. Article on OPEN_1 and the OPEN Prototype project. Read the press release.
Other News
The New ABCs for HVAC, a HousingZone.com article on the ease of installing HVAC in an Open-Built® home.
NH MEP article on LEAN manufacturing strategies at Bensonwood.
Manufacturing Success Stories pubished an article about our LEAN strategies in their online newsletter.
PATH Celebrates Innovation, Unveils Plans for Home of the Future Bensonwood receives recognition for its "commitment to researching, developing, and marketing improved housing."
PATH Concept Home Committee Visited Bensonwood Facility
Inga Saffron. "Changing Skyline -- Green, clean, and pretty prefab." The Philadelphia Inquirer. June 15, 2007. Bensonwood fabricated and assembled this home.
Hilary Harris, our LEED-certified architect, was featured on New Hampshire Public Radio for her bike commute.
Joseph Truini. "A House with no Nails." Popular Mechanics. April 2007. 70-75.
Bensonwood Homes Underwrites This Old House on WGBH. Innovative builder expands on long relationship with program. See the video
Tim O'Sullivan. "Open Houses." Smart HomeOwner. January/February 2007. 50-53.
Andrew Dey. "Reinventing the House." Fine Homebuilding. November 2006. 58-63. (6.5 MB PDF)
Lisa Marquis Jackson. "The Art of the Craft." Timber Home Living. October 2006, 26-27. (381k PDF)
Tedd Benson. "A Dismal Standard." Fine Homebuilding. Summer 2006. 8-16.
Paul Fournier. "A Home for Russian Icons." New England Construction. January 23, 2006. 4-6. (1 MB PDF)
Amy Laughinghouse. "Finally Home." Timber Home Living. February 2006. 66-74. (5.3 MB PDF)
Joe Bousquin. "Hampton's Harvest." Timber Home Living. April 2006. 32-40. (3.7 MB PDF)
Dana Lambert. "Colonial Revived." (link to secure PDF. This file requires an additional plug-in to load.) New England Home. September/October 2005. 115-121.
"On Golden Lake." (link
to 1 mb PDF) Luxury Log Homes & Timber Frame. Spring 2006. 56-63.
Correction on page 7.
Builder: Dennis Moran, Moran Construction Management, Center Harbor, NH.