The roofs pitches align with the landscape’s different slopes, creating a sympathetic composition. The exterior is clad in burnt larch timber and features expansive glazing that embraces the views, timber floors, and natural stone details. Designed by Koto Living, a new branch of the firm, the interiors of the home reflect the studio's focus on natural materials and texture to create a connection between the house and its environment.
Designed by Manta North, this 516-square-foot residence is situated on an organic farm near the intersection of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
U.K. design firm Koto’s proof of concept for their new venture in architect-designed modular residences is in North Uist, an island in the remote Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The roughly 2,200-square-foot, four-bedroom home carries the company’s characteristic sculptural forms, jet-black yakisugi cladding, and Japandi aesthetic.
A view of the open plan living space inspired by Jens RIsoms Danish childhood. Risom Library chairs from the early 1960s surround the dining table.
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 moveable prefab currently sits nestled on a remote lot, surrounded by towering trees.
Natural materials and the raw, exposed structure will patina over time, denoting the passage of time along with the house.
The couple love the home’s privacy and the way it interacts with the environment. They describe certain rooms as feeling like being inside a treehouse with views out to the surrounding forest canopy.
Cabin ANNA began in 2016 as a way for Caspar Schols and his family to cope with a personal tragedy. At his mother’s request, he built a refuge on her rural forested property where the family “would feel connected and feel one,” says Schols. “I started dreaming of how we could be surrounded by life instead of shielded from it.” In ten months, the once physicist completed the Garden House: a prototype of what would, to his own surprise, turn into a much larger project oriented toward a deeper connection with the planet.
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."
Black pipe railing
Features include a modern glass ceramic kitchen backsplash, a granite sink, textured melamine panels, a hardwood countertop, and wood shelves.