The pergola provides plenty of space for outdoor dining and Francis’s collection of cacti and succulents.
A Murphy bed pulls out of a central, maple-clad volume that also holds a sleeping loft, a bathroom, and a kitchen designed and built by Remo. “When it’s so small, you see everything a little bit closer,” Remo says. “There was more pressure to do it right.”
The home is a celebration of simple functionality and honest materiality—from the netting used to enclose the reading snug on the mezzanine level, to the timber cladding. “There is no paint or render on the build as we wanted to express the beauty of the materials themselves wherever possible,” explains architect William Samuels.
"The whole act of going up and down a stair is a very spatial experience," Gray says. "When you’re bridging between two levels, you try to do it in as structurally light way as possible, which is really appealing to us."
Each cabin comes equipped with stained and sealed tongue-and-groove cedar siding, full insulation, a large picture window, a door with a porthole window, and long-lasting metal roofing.
The IWI also contains a range of utilities, like a sink, lighting, electrical outlets, electrical switches, etc, which can be adapted for the user's needs. It can also be used on or off-grid, depending on where it's located.
The IWI can be extended or compressed, depending on the needs of the user. When compressed, it behaves like a piece of furniture or a shelf.
When the IWI is extended, it becomes a living space that contains everything necessary to fulfill its different functions, like office, yoga studio, relaxation space, or place to enjoy your morning coffee with a view.
This Iwi prefab was designed by architects Juan Ruiz and Amelia Tapia for anyone looking to add a flexible space to their property. With a timber frame clad in cork and waterproof canvas stitched into wood ribbing, it expands like an accordion to a total of roughly 92 square feet. When compressed, it becomes a 26-square-foot roofed hutch.
Take a look at some of the most exciting, sustainable buildings around the world, and you may notice something they have in common: green roofs, or rooftops covered with a thin layer of soil to allow for grasses and other low-lying plants to grow.