Well, for lots of reasons involving everything from labor unions to mortgage financing, but certainly not from a lack of interest on the part of architects, designers, and other creative thinkers who’ve long been intrigued by the potential of this oft-maligned building technique. We could list dozens of examples from the 20th century—here are just a few highlights:

As early as 1914, Le Corbusier created a new type of skeletal framework construction of reinforced concrete for his Dom-Ino House. In 1927, Buckminster Fuller introduced his design for what would later become the Dymaxion House. Richard Neutra’s Lovell Health House (1928–29) was constructed with a lightweight steel frame. Albert Frey’s Aluminaire was the first all-light-steel-and-aluminum house built in America. Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, who had called for the industrialization of housing as early as 1910, collaborated with Konrad Wachsmann to develop the Packaged House for the General Panel Corporation in 1942. Jean Prouvé was commissioned by the French government to design mass-produced housing in 1950. And in the postwar United States, prefab technology became an integral part of the work of many Case Study architects, such as Pierre Koenig, Ralph Rapson, and the Eameses. George Nelson’s Experimental House (1957) was based on principles of modularity and prefabrication. Even Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Studio was commissioned to design a Prairie-style mobile home.

In the 1960s, Carl Koch’s Techbuilt kit homes took advantage of prefab technology without sacrificing individuality, while Andrew Geller marketed mass-produced Leisurama vacation homes. Bucky Fuller displayed a geodesic dome at the World Expo in 1967. Moshie Safdie’s modular Habitat Montreal was introduced there, too. In 1968, Richard Rogers developed sustainable and customizable shelters known as Zip-Up Enclosures, and Paul Rudolph designed—but never built—an incredibly ambitious building comprising 4,050 prefabricated residential units. Several architects experimented with “capsule architecture” in the late ’60s and early ’70s, including Kisho Kurokawa and Archigram. Even Philippe Starck designed a prefab house—the “Starckinette”—for Les 3 Suisses in 1993.

And in the 21st century? Fuller declared back in 1929 that industrial production “calls for more skill and a higher development of the design element, not its cessation.” He believed that prefab should not eliminate the need for architects, but highlight their immense importance. We agree, and with the Dwell Home, we look forward to proving his assertion.