Featuring a vaulted, plywood ceiling, the kids' room upstairs doubles as a playroom. "It's a place we all lounge in to build Legos and read stories,
Lee Buchanan of Lee Build created a screen of white ash slats beside the kitchen as well as the entry. "The stairs are beautifully integrated into the kitchen so the kids and I are always talking and someone is always sitting on the bottom steps,
“You can really feel when you’re in the interior that it is exterior when you make the windows disappear completely,” says architect Ignacio Urquiza. “They disappear completely so the interior dining and living turn into exterior. The architecture tries to not disappear, but rather to blend with the reflection of the windows.”
Architect Ignacio Urquiza explains that in Valle de Bravo, everyone has two living rooms, an interior and exterior. “You spend the whole year in the exterior because of the weather, even if it’s raining. All the interior spaces become abandoned. We wanted to erase the interior one. With the design of the windows, it would turn into the exterior façade. That was an important part of the project.”
There are now four bunks in the bedroom, and the bottom two mattresses can be pushed together for a couple.
The material palette was investigated early on, along with a variety of layout options. The end product reflected both the homeowner’s style and the unique character of the home.
Both models feature the same simple, clean design language with a vaulted ceiling in the main living and dining area that aims to make the relatively small footprint—The Studio is approximately 1250 square feet, and The Standard is approximately 1875 square feet—feel spacious. The modular components can be arranged to create three different layouts, and clients also have the opportunity to choose tiles, paint, and other finishes.
Inside, the home features a fully equipped kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, a guest area, a smart lighting system, heated oak parquet flooring, and plenty of windows. "The internal organization is a play between activity areas at the center of the volume, and uninterrupted passage along the perimeter,
Designed by Moliving, each standalone unit is like a hotel suite. At the front is a deck, where an entry leads past a bathroom, into a living area with clerestory windows, and then to a wood-paneled bedroom fronted by a window and doors that open onto a patio with a lakefront view. Sleek interior finishes, like a blend of tile in the bathroom, and wood cladding around the mini bar, give it a refined feel. Rounding out the accommodation is a hot tub positioned to the side.
The units are installed on a site in Hurley, New York, overlooking Twin Lakes, and some of them will include private hot tubs.
The prefab home was crafted with structural insulated panels (SIPs). “SIPs are relatively new to Australia and provides a more straightforward and efficient alternative to traditional framing,” notes the Archier team. “These panels not only offer a simpler construction method; they’re also thermally efficient and environmentally sustainable. Working with the standard dimensions of the panels and keeping the building footprint small proved cost-effective.”
The steel-frame structure allows for floor-to-ceiling triple glazing along the perimeter of the units.
Architects Gordon Stott and Jared Levy saw modular prefabrication as a chance to make high-quality residences more affordable—so long as the construction method was extremely efficient. In 2012, they launched Connect Homes with fifteen designs as part of its original Design Series. Since, Stott and Levy have made more affordable models as well as shelters and community buildings for unhoused people.
Photo courtesy of Cabin Anna
The blackened timber cladding helps the prefab to blend into the forest. The interior of the home was conceived as two blocks that house less flexible spaces like the bathroom, kitchen, and storage. This approach helped to avoid the use of interior walls, “freeing up the rest of the spaces to connect with the setting,” explains iHouse. “The forest is framed at all times.”
According to the architects iHouse Estudio, this prefab in Punto del Este, Urugay, aims to immerse the residents in the forested surroundings. “Continuing with this idea,” they add, “the house features a flowing interior with no interior walls. Inside, blocks contain bathrooms, a kitchen, and closets, freeing the rest of the spaces to connect with the setting. The forest is framed at all times."
On the terrace, the family can rest on the RODA outdoor sofa and enjoy the views.
In the midst of the pandemic, a family leverages industry connections and modular construction to quickly rebuild a cliffside getaway on a fire-ravaged site in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
The remote location made construction a challenge. Horne ended up widening the road to the cabin in order to move the shipping containers up the cliff.
From the living space, you can catch a clear, unobstructed view across the bay.
363 more saves