NOEM, a Barcelona–based architecture firm, created a metal-clad house for a young client just outside Madrid. It’s raised 12 feet off the ground to offer better views of the landscape, lending it "the futuristic feeling that it just landed," says Pol Guiu, one of NOEM’s cofounders.

A built-in desk by NOEM FabLab folds into the wall when not in use.

Automated shutters overhead provide privacy when closed and shade the deck when open.

NOEM integrated the mechanical systems behind a purple screen for users to access. This “hub” is the first thing visible upon opening the front door.

New pine and spruce wood from the Pyrenees (both recyclable and PEFC certified) were selected for the façade of the 1,000-square-foot prefab. Smart blinds cover the windows, rigged to open and close depending on the weather forecast.

Spruce clads the interior walls and ceilings.

“The plan was to enter the house through the machine room, like in Han Solo’s spaceship, the Millennium Falcon,” Guiu says.

The rooftop is fitted with a solar array that’s operated by a device in the hub.

An electric car–charging station is situated underneath the house.

Gray-purple iron railings, a fuchsia and green wooden entry, and garage doors provide contrast to the white walls of this Santa Barbara home. Photo by Steven Holmes.

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.

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.

It takes three to five days to install a Vipp Shelter onsite.

Dacor products suit tech-savvy home cooks. The Discovery Dual Range oven wirelessly connects to a tablet via the brand's iQ app for a customizable kitchen experience.

The Spaceship by Glimpt (2012) This alien invader-like piece, the results of two Swedes (Mattias Rask & Tor Palm) in collaboration with Peruvian craftsman from the Crafts Cooperative, Artesanos Don Bosco, reflects an outsider's view of local culture and mysticism.

High windows on the east and west façades catch the sunrise and sunset, increasing light within the home. “They’re very simple and lo-fi,” Larsen says.

Photo by Patrick Barta

This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

Helsinki architect Ville Hara and designer Linda Bergroth collaborated on a prefab shed-meets-sleeping cabin, which can be assembled with little else than a screwdriver. Bergroth, inspired by nomadic yurt dwellers, wanted an indoor/outdoor experience for her property in Finland.

This 3,200-square-foot structure was assembled with a prefabricated foundation, concrete panel siding, and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins—such as concrete foundation tar—on the site.

Six-inch-square blue tiles cover the walls and floor of the girls’ upstairs bathroom. The towels and rug are also by H&M Home.

"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 inspiration for this prefabricated, modular family home on Fishers Island, New York, were the views that Tanney and Luntz saw from a 12-foot stepladder, which was balancing on the bed of a pickup truck when they first visited the site.

Many elements of the home can be controlled remotely from the residents’ smart phones, including internal temperatures. The GPS on their phones will activate heating systems 20 minutes in advance of their arrival to optimize energy consumption. A similar system is employed for the showers; a water recirculation pump fills the pipes with hot water five minutes before a scheduled shower time.

Inside the home, soft oak flooring and the immaculate white walls and furniture “maximize the sensation of light,” Martín says.

Outdoor facilities were also carefully considered to cater to the residents' desire to spend plenty of time outside. The pool in the front yard is complemented by a designated barbecue area and outdoor bathroom. Garden sensors monitor soil moisture and irrigation levels.

GilBartolomé Architects says the metal facade looks like "the skin of a dragon set in the ground when seen from below" but "waves of the sea when seen from above."

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

An attentive sensitivity to site played into nearly every aspect of both the exterior andinterior spaces of the home. Architect Peter Rose collaborated with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, who worked to craft and maintain the wild, organic feel of the environs. Will Parry, a local builder, custom-fabricated all of the sustainably harvested Spanish cedar-and-glass windows and skylights throughout. Here, a vertical-swinging window at the end of the entry hallway opens directly to a lush expanse of vegetation.

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.

Sou Fujimoto collaborated with Honda on this high-tech home that integrates energy generation systems with the living space and family car. Solar roof panels charge the batteries on this electric vehicle parked in the light-filled living room.

Designer Christiane Hogner, Bruxelles

The units don't even require foundations—simple ground screws from Krinner are enough to support them.

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

Landscape architects Reed Hilderbrand helped fill out the completed prefab by planting sedge grass on one of the house’s two green roofs to reflect the texture of the surrounding meadow.