Prefab

Architect Oliver Lang and his partner, Cindy Wilson, created Monad, a multiunit prefab prototype in Vancouver.

The living-dining area of their own residence is lined with doors and windows from Phoenix Glass for Columbia Aluminum Products.

“This house is a retreat from busy city lives that encourages a slower way of living by the beach,

While prefabs cabins have the same amenities and footprint, orienting the long side of Kabn 2 towards the loch shortened the inbuilt bench. Its fabric woven from PET yarn, a lounge chair by Ferm Living was added by the window to compensate.

Kabn 2 was designed so that its long side faces the loch. Apart from providing entry into the home, the glazed corner of cabin frames the water just past a gravel path.

The group was budget-conscious when designing the kitchenette. They used Ikea cabinets with custom-built faces in a white oak, cabinet-grade veneer. Braithwaite extended the same material to the ceiling beneath the mezzanine to define the kitchen zone. As a result, “it feels like it is part of the same language,” he says. Instead of traditional plumbing, the group added a filtered water collection system to the metal roof, and opted for an incinerator toilet.

The living space includes a Stuv woodburning stove. To balance the raw hemlock, Braithwaite customized industrial touches like Edison-bulb light fixtures that suspend at varying heights on fabric wire.

At 20' feet long, the cabin can fit three twin mattresses toe-to-toe on the upper level, and two on the smaller lower level to comfortably sleep five adults. Integrating ladder groves in the wall eschews the need for a movable ladder that would have cluttered up the interior space.

Poteet replaced one wall with a large steel-and-glass lift-and-slide window wall, which he says makes the best use of indirect light. “The big sliding door and picture window make the 250-square-foot living space feel big,” says Hill.