Prefab-ish

“The name 'Unfinished House' refers to an aesthetic attitude…. Self-finishing materials were selected to reduce resources and reveal the building’s construction. Tile and plywood are the only added ‘finishes’; They cover areas with wiring and plumbing,” the architects tell us. “The building is an all-timber structure with cellulose and wood fiber board insulation. Many of the materials were locally-produced including the wood framing, plywood, corrugated metal, and wood cladding.”

Natasha's love of plants is evident in the cabin, where pops of greenery show up throughout.

"How would a kid draw a house?" architect Per Franson asked himself when designing the Olivero-Reinius family home. The simple prefab structure’s unusual color comes from a traditional source: falu rödfärg, the historic mineral paint that gives the region’s famous barns their red color.

The simple wood deck features innovative cutouts that allow full-grown Yucca trees to peek through.

Cover designed this 414-square-foot prefab office/guesthouse specifically for the Hollywood site.

Noticing a void in the market, he partnered with renowned Australian architect and champion of sustainability, Peter Stutchbury, on Dimensions X, a start-up offering responsible, affordable, and architecturally-pleasing pre-crafted homes at the click of a button.

In Australia, a manufacturer and an architecture firm create an off-grid home that can be broken down and shipped across the world.

Amy Plank and Richard Vaughn linked three 20-foot shipping containers to create a striking and sustainable home in Victoria, Australia. The house is clad with interlocking Colorbond steel panels, accented by windows and doors framed with silvertop ash.

The house was designed to minimally interfere with the hilltop vegetation, which is what attracted the family to the site.

The home is clad in corrugated iron coated with Zincalume. “We chose the cladding so we could curve the metal sheets and create barrel vaulted roofs,” says architect William Samuels. “The finish gives a natural reflection to the surface of the house, picking up on the colors of the surrounding bush and the changing daylight.”

As Nicolás Tovo and Teresa Sarmiento of La Base embraced modular design as part of their architectural practice, they noticed that prospective clients were wary of prefabricated construction. So the duo teamed up with Place, an Argentine prefab builder, to make a proof of concept just outside the Patagonian resort town of Bariloche.

In the midst of the pandemic, a family leverages industry connections and modular construction to quickly rebuild a cliffside getaway on a fire-ravaged site in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.