The Globe and Mail

Prefab getaway housing is one of those topics that pits sensible people against each other like plucky roosters, each side bristling with opinions. Just mention it among folks who talk about architecture, and watch the feathers ruffle up. A couple of weeks ago, for example, I reported in this column on the strongly anti-prefab views of Graham Smith, principal in the Toronto firm Altius Architecture Inc. Mr. Smith thinks the last thing needed by rural areas and cottage country (where most prefab is headed) is more factory-built housing. What's appropriate out there, instead, are custom-designed cottages of the kind done, as it happens, by Altius Architecture. The appearance of Mr. Smith's views in these pages was quickly followed by a little blitz of e-mail from people for and against. One of these spirited responses came from Toronto builder Richard Stark, who, with business partner Hy Rosenberg, went to market last autumn with a handsome, well-designed prefab cottage called Blue Sky Mod.