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“The house itself was prefabricated and assembled on-site in just 30 days,” Ohtake tells us. “This minimized waste, preserving the area’s flora and fauna.” He collaborated with Ricardo Cardim and Studio Teto Jardim to make the home appear as though it were nestled in the earth. This provided the added benefit of a thermally efficient interior that didn’t need an air conditioner.

The new, attached ADU is rented out as a passive source of income that is helping Amanda finance the project.

This two-bedroom, two-bathroom standard Hygge Supply model was built on a corner lot in Traverse City, Michigan.

A Simple Plan A Marmol Radziner–designed prefab house, trucked onto a remote Northern California site, takes the pain out of the construction process.

When Abbie and Bill Burton hired Marmol Radziner to design their prefab weekend home, their two requests were “simple-simple, replaceable materials,” says Abbie—such as concrete floors (poured offsite in Marmol Radziner's factory) and metal panel siding—and “the ability to be indoors or outdoors with ease.” Deep overhangs provide shade and protection from rain, so the Burtons can leave their doors open year-round and hang out on their 70-foot-long deck even in inclement weather. They visit the house once a month, usually for a week at a time, with Vinnie and Stella, their rescue Bernese Mountain dogs. Their two adult children occasionally join them. The couple hopes to one day retire here.

In the foreground are Float beanbag chairs and poufs from Paola Lenti. Mamagreen sofas nestle near the house on the sun-dappled deck. A 9.5-foot-tall shade cloth curtain seals off the entire length of the house when the couple is away, keeping the heat out of the interior and preventing accidental bird suicides against the floor-to-ceiling glass walls.

Located just off the kitchen, this room was originally designed for dining—the adjustable Ligne Roset Crescendo coffee table can be raised to 28.75 inches—but most days Bill and Abbie prefer to eat outside or at their casual Caesarstone-topped kitchen island. Today the space serves as a sunny reading spot and guest room, with a convertible futon (from Ligne Roset, since discontinued) and a set of leather-and-steel Paulistano armchairs from Design Within Reach.

The walk-in shower has a skylight, and is covered in Ann Sacks Square Arcilla tile, which the architects chose because it doesn’t look "too precise." The floor is Waterworks terrazzo.

The kitchen now occupies the addition, and the island was detailed to look like a piece of furniture to better meld with the living room. The cabinet colors are Farrow & Ball’s Skimming Stone and Sherwin-Williams’s Garden Gate, and were handpainted instead of spray-finished, so as "not to have something too slick or sterile," says VW. "We wanted them to be warm and have personality."

Set high in the deserts of California’s Yucca Valley, this hybrid prefab by Blue Sky Building Systems home is constructed with an eco-friendly, light-gauge steel framing system that helps it perch lightly on the land.