Architect Ulrich Aspetsberger of the Vienna-based firm Caramel recently created a pint-sized house in Linz, Austria, for his wife, Andrea Bina, and their daughter, Lina. Aspetsberger, meanwhile, works in Vienna, two hours away, and spends weekends with his loved ones in Linz. Though it’s named the Lina House, the yellow, 700-square-foot shoe-box-shaped structure owes its existence to Bina’s job as a curator at the Lentos Museum of Modern Art in Linz, where Aspetsberger’s parents also live. During their first few years in Linz, Bina and Lina lived with the Aspetsbergers, but soon needed more personal space.

Not wanting to completely abandon his parents, Aspetsberger built an outbuilding on their property. In his design, the architect cleverly created a glass passageway connecting the two buildings. On paper, the corridor enabled the new structure to classify as an addition. The passageway, however, was never built and now the Lina House sits a bit aloof from the main building, which dates back almost a century. The two are not entirely disconsonant, sharing electricity and plumbing and thus avoiding the hassle of connecting a new property to the Linz utility grid.

All the Lina House components were partially prefabricated offsite and mounted onto the steel framework in the course of a week. “Andrea wanted her own space quickly,” says Aspetsberger, “so we devised a very rapid construction.” The prominent glass window literally defined the house’s shape—it had been cut to the wrong dimension for another Caramel job, and had been sitting around the office. Though the whole house only cost $68,000, Aspetsberger is especially proud of the bargain glass. “We built the house around that window,” he says with a smile.