Private Residential

Main House, Guest House + Garage in Charleston, South Carolina on the Waterfront near Kiawah Island.
FEMA Flood Zone + Hurricane Rated Custom Home

With a growing family, our client reached out to EcoSteel to build a custom prefabricated home that was designed with non-traditional building materials. With the help of Woollen Studios, EcoSteel created an all steel home that was flood and hurricane resistant. The structure is FEMA Flood Zone, Hurricane Rated, Fire Resistant, and Termite Proof. With the raised foundation and walls of Fleetwood Impact Rated Glass used to create this modern steel building, we were able to fully express the breathtaking views of the Kiawah River. With the use of steel, we created flexible openings that invite the outside in and removed visual and physical barriers. The full windows allow beautiful views of the South Carolina landscape outside of this metal building home. Opening this indoor / outdoor space allowed our client to enjoy the expanded sense of space, yet stay comfortable with a transparent barrier that protects you no matter what weather nature brings.

To see more of EcoSteel’s hurricane resistant engineering, take a look at one of our other hurricane rated homes.

FEMA HURRICANE + FLOOD ZONE APPROVED PREFAB SYSTEM
Cusabo Island, SC

With a Private Island location at the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean sits a refuge in the woods against Hurricanes and frigid temperatures. With Steel a bolted Structure engineered to withstand 14FT Storm Surges, this impressive custom design is a testament to creative thinking. Architecture by Seattle-based Woollen Studio and a Pre-Engineered Building System by EcoSteel, the Cusabo Island home is a prefab wonder.

Engineered to exceed FEMA flood zone code requirements, with helical foundations, a steel structure, Poly-Iso Insulated steel exterior wall and roof panels, which provide superior insulating properties for frigid winters and allow for extreme 140mph wind loading capabilities while maintaining superior fire resistance. The 3,888 square foot home features a number of balconies, two bedrooms and an open floor plan living and dining area. The home was prefabricated off-site and then flown in via helicopter for quick and low-impact construction (minus the helicopter time).

As the home is located in a remote location on an island, services are not close, so it needed to be completely self-sufficient in terms of utilities as well as protection.Solar photovoltaics, a wind turbine and evacuated tube collectors provide enough electricity and hot water to make the home totally off-grid. Composting toilets handle waste and a leach field processes grey water, while a rainwater catchment system collects water for household use.

Insulated storm doors and shutters protect the home during Atlantic storms and minimize heat gain and loss.Sun screens, wide overhangs and louvered doors provide shade protection. Passive solar design and natural ventilation help further minimize energy usage. The home is also built high off the ground to protect it from storm surges and flooding, but when everything is calm, the owners make use of a screened-in porch on the ground floor to take refuge from the heat and the insects.