Albert Carl Koch
and Techbuilt
Houses
Albert Carl Koch was born in Milwaukee WI. He was educated at Harvard and got a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard in 1937. He then moved to Sweden and worked for Sven Markelius for six months, blending his formal education with clean Scandinavian design. He returned to the US to design mostly houses for Edward Durell Stone, including a house for his own parents.bbLater in the 1940s, Koch designed several affordable prefabricated housing prototypes. He did the original Acorn House (1946), re-design of the all-steel Lustron House (1949), and Conantum, one of the nation's first cluster housing developments in Concord MA (1951). Launched in 1953, his Techbuilt House was wildly successful and would be available in twenty-two models. The Techbuilt House could be constructed (on average) for $7.50/sf, as compared to $10/sf for a conventional house and $15/sf for a custom-built house. Over 3,000 houses were sold in the US before 1963.
In 1958, Koch co-authored At Home With Tomorrow about the Techbuilt House and Koch's other prefab designs. Video. Techbuilt brochure used in NC by builder Bob Bacon. Techbuilt research site. The Techbuilt Idea.
Techbuilt offered 6 house sizes, 20' and 24' wide x 32', 40', 48' long. The original Techbuilt was showcased at the 1954 World's Fair in Ridgewood NJ.
1954 - St. Louis MO. Built by Mayer-Raeshier Brothers, Techbuilt Franchisee. Their version was brick instead of board and batten wood siding and the interior wall were plastered.
Sources include: Sally Greene; Virginia Faust; Harry Seng; Philip Manire; Claire Williams.