Prefab

When they are eventually integrated into the parks, the cabins are meant to stand in groups of ten to 15.

The L-shaped secondary building perches over a craggy escarpment. It offers the best vantage point for taking in the moss-planted roof, forest, and ocean.

The main building sinks then elevates in full view of ocean.

Large sliding glass doors allow daylight to fill the living room. Smaller windows are placed in the kitchen area and the sleeping loft. The exterior is clad in heart pine which needs very little up-keep and is known for its strength and hardness.

The Bristol stool on the second story landing is by Modern Home.

Studio owner Joey Williams uses his space to work from home as an Austin-based media director.

Nestled in a field of praire grass in the Wisconsin woods, the Weekn’der is a dynamic contrast of minimalist black and white.

Vo Trong Nghia Architects utilized passive design strategies and a double roof, constructed from Nipa palm and corrugated cement, to ventilate the home, an important consideration in a humid, tropical environment.

Photo by Patrick Barta

Embedded in the desert, this Marmol Radziner–designed prefab home for a Las Vegas casino executive features a James Turrell pyramidal Skyspace structure.

Since Copenhagen is generally cold, the house was painted black to trap warmth. The result was that in its first year, it consumed so little energy that the client received a generous refund from the heating company. “Many wooden houses in Scandinavia use this trick,” Larsen says. “On sunny days it even radiates warmth, so that in spring and autumn you can sit outside by the wall and in this way extend the outdoor season by a few weeks every year. These weeks are valuable in places with little light.”

An imaginary axis divides the floor plan down the middle, with the open plan living room and kitchen to the south and three bedrooms to the north. In the dining area, a freestanding island hides appliances and piping while also providing counter space. Floor-to-ceiling windows make the outside deck and garden feel like an extension of the interior.

The living room's double height makes the space seem larger that its actual size. Stairs leading up to the sleeping loft are placed next to the open fireplace. The plastered wall and the soapstone tiles on the floor add some roughness to the wooden interior.

Heating for the unit is provided by a Spartherm fireplace, with electric heating integrated into the magnesite floor. Walls are insulated with fire-tested wool felt under plywood panels.

For 2015, Vipp, the Danish industrial design company known for its iconic trash cans and all-black kitchens, introduces a 592-square-foot prefab unit called Shelter.

The roofline of the Tind house prototype, designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune for prefab company Fiskarhedenvillan, has more conventional Swedish gables than the flat-roofed modernism of typical prefab units.

The two-foot-thick stacked stone walls constructed by Reed Hilderbrand nod to the masonry-free walls common in Revolutionary-era New England.

Since the front door is located in the exterior wall, residents first enter a vast garden before reaching the gable roof house.