Guilty as charged. We’re in love with prefab homes. They’re all the craze now (as you can tell) and we feel they just may be the future of housing with Muji and IKEA probably being the biggest forces. Prefab homes are basically homes that don’t come in the form of apartments, or buildings. These are homes that you buy in entirety, and the home is delivered to your location of choosing. In a span of 1-3 days, the home is set up (even with the furnishings included), completely ready for you to begin living in! All these homes need is a plot of land, and a decent water connection. Electricity can easily be arranged for via solar panels, but it helps to have a steady electrical line too. Today’s round up is of 5 of our favorite Prefab Homes that are there on the market today that are an absolute delight to look at as well as live in. Let’s dive in!

1. Built for every millennial wanderlust, the Coodo 18 home is a prefab loft that can literally be moved around and assembled anywhere. Made to be put up anywhere, be it on a beach, or a grassland, or the mountains, or even the roof of your house, the Coodo 18 comes with the option of wheels on its base, allowing one to transport it anywhere they want, and not being bound by estate. The best thing about the Coodo 18 is that all its components meet international environmental standards in terms of materials, recyclability, as well as environmentally friendly disposal and durability, now that’s a winner, isn’t it? Home is where the heart is, so why don’t you take it with you wherever you go?

2. The shipping container is synonymous with instant residential architecture with an absolute variety of designs found all over the internet. They’ve also been used for multiple installations or exhibitions in the past and are most certainly a growing trend. The Ripple Home by Ceardean Architectures, is Ireland’s first shipping container home, created for the Irish Museum of Modern Art. This 60ft. X 10ft. residential space with an extended outdoor porch was built for the St. Vincent de Paul charity to create spaces the homeless could call home, with donated building materials.
The execution took all of 3 days & brought together a rather budget friendly house that runs on solar power, micro heat recovery units, back boilers, and hot water heating units. While this home isn’t up for grabs, Ceardean Architects have released a free e-book fully detailing out their design process for people interested in making their own Ripple Homes!

3. The Gomos Modular system is a brilliant example of how pre-fabricated homes are rapidly changing the architecture industry by drastically cutting down build time and man-force… this quaint home, for starters, can be put together in all of 3 days. Designed by Portugese architect Samuel Gonclaves, the house is extendable in the sense that it can be elongated in length based on the user’s requirements. Made from prefabricated concrete shapes that fit one after the other, the more concrete members you fit, the longer the home becomes! The windows/openings are located on extreme ends of the home’s design, so the longer you make the house, the more artificial lighting you’d require towards the center of the residence. That seems to be the only caveat, but it comes with a rather incredible plus size. Instead of having a prefab home for a fixed price, you can size up or down the house based on your budget!

4. Gone are the days when a house was all brick and mortar… rather we seem to be going back to building homes with wood and other natural materials. Estudio Borrachia’s Casa de Madera is the perfect rustic getaway house from the noisy cities and pollution. Designed to allow architecture to intermingle with the environment, the house was envisioned to be built in the woods and be absorbed by it (there’s even space on the roof to allow plants to grow, forming a layer of foliage over the top of the building). The design permits 100% cross ventilation & natural lighting, which in turn acts as an energy saving and a budget-friendly solution. Designed to embody what prefab homes should, the house aims at promising a no-hassle, peaceful lifestyle within nature’s lap for its 4 residents.

5. Here’s a rather luxurious looking eco-home that comes with a price, but also an incredible benefit. The entire home is factory-made and can be delivered and placed on-site in literally a day. Imagine buying a house and shifting into it the very next day! Called the Big Box, this prefab house by the Bert and May Group gets built from scratch in 14 weeks and takes just a day to carry and position on-site. In fact the house in its entirety was even put on display at the London Design Festival!

Co-authored by Khyati Seth

What could you possibly mean by imaginary, oh writer?! Well, this round-up is of buildings that were supposed to be made but never got built. Some were halted due to financial constraints, others had safety issues, and some just got plain scrapped. This edition of Architreasure isn’t really about treasuring architecture… it’s about looking at designs that didn’t get the opportunity to change the landscape of this earth. Let’s dive in!

1. This towering (and controversial) structure was planned by Irish developer Garrett Kelleher (and envisioned by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava) to stand on 400N Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Referred to as the Chicago Spire, the building was halted mid-construction after a $50 million dollar failure, leaving the developer in massive debt. This was back in 2007. What’s happening to it now? Well, there are plans for another skyscraper to take its place. Obviously not the same builder!

2. Formally named The Illinois, this was one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most bizarre concepts. If you’re wondering why, let me tell you other name the building had acquired for itself. The “Mile High Building”. Designed to stand at approximately 5280 feet, Wright believed the building’s construction was possible, back in 1956. The design included 528 stories, with a gross area of 18.46 million square feet, and needless to say, complications in construction caused the entire idea to be abandoned soon after. Here’s a fun fact… the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa stands at 2714 feet. Just about half of the Illinois’ proposed height.

3. Frank Lloyd Wright was ambitious for sure, but not as much as Buckminster Fuller when he proposed the Manhattan Dome. Exactly what it sounds like, the 2 mile wide dome would cover a portion of Manhattan in thick, solid, shatterproof, one-way glass. Without a doubt, this wasn’t even near possible, but Buckminster Fuller certainly thought so back in the crazy 60s.

4. At fourth place, is the Fourth Grace, a building envisioned for the city of Liverpool. Located beside three historic buildings that were referred to as the Three Graces, architect Will Alsop proposed this design despite heavy criticism from most people for its perceived ugliness. The Fourth Grace was designed for office space, a 107-room hotel and 50,000 sq ft of community facilities, including a bar, restaurant and viewing gallery, and was scrapped as a project altogether, not for its aesthetic, but rather the cost it entailed.

5. This building literally embodied “they see me rolling” with its ever-changing design that involved individually rotating floors that would not only continuously change the silhouette/form of the building, it would allow each floor to have a distinctly different and unique view every time. The Dynamic Tower, designed for Dubai by David Fincher was ultimately scrapped for being highly unfeasible.

6. The Volkshalle was Hitler’s pet project for his utopia, the country of Germania. Designed to be the town-hall in the center of the capital city, the structure was proposed to be so large that the architect himself advised Hitler against it, saying that the dome would bounce off noise created by the people inside to such an extent that it may result in permanent hearing loss for the public. In a strange twist of fortune, the war came, which meant no Hitler regime, no Germania, and definitely no Volkshalle.

7. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid was designed to outshine the pyramids of Giza by being 14 times their size! Designed for the densely populated city of Tokyo, the pyramids would stand at 2000 meters tall and house a million people. Strangely, this building hasn’t been scrapped, but rather shelved until technology can bring about strong, light-weight building materials that may aid it in its construction. If you’re curious however, there’s a replica of this in Minecraft that you can visit!

8. There’s no imaginary building list without tipping a hat to the striking imagination of the Late Zaha Hadid. Known for her grandly impossible architecture, a wide range of her projects are still under construction, given their complexity. However, the Changsha Meishihu International Cultural Centre in Hunan, China hasn’t seen much development (and is still rumored to be stuck in design and proposal stages) since its reveal in 2013.

9. Another one of Hadid’s exemplary works, this one for her home town of Baghdad, is the Central Bank of Iraq. After the original bank building was damaged due to a suicide bombing attack, Hadid was approached for a redesign in 2011. Sadly, given the country’s political instability of late, the project has been shelved.

10. Lastly, we have the Guggenheim Museum for Guadalajara, Mexico. This was geared to be the most expensive of all the Guggenheim museums, with a budget of up to $200 million. Designed by architect Enrique Norten, it should have been completed by 2011 and its 24-storeys would have been constructed with mainly ecological materials. However, with the museum director refusing to cut costs and scale down the project to meet Mexico’s art budgets, the Guggenheim foundation decided to abandon the project and focus on expansion in Europe and the Middle East.

We’ve got a complete mixed bag of architecture styles here today. A few ambitious iconic high-rises, some buildings that have more of a social connect. One thing that binds them all together is that all of them are highly inspirational! Go ahead, scroll now, bookmark later!

1. If there’s something that truly blurs lines between sculptural and structural design, it’s the Wire Pavilion by Eduardo Tresoldi and Designlab Experience. This piece of mind-melting work is made entirely out of metal wire. It looks almost as if an AutoCAD model came to life!

2. I swear, if I could life in a tree-house as an adult, I’d legit do that without batting an eyelid. It’s a good thing Swedish firm Manofactory designed these cliff-houses for adults to live in, that give us pretty much the same adrenaline rush as a tree-house would… Made with lightweight wood, these vertically suspended homes would actually be pretty thrilling to live in! Of course the designs will have their limitations with sources for water, electricity supply & making sure the cliffs chosen have close to no signs of soil erosion, but if planned well it is a step into innovative futuristic architecture.

3. The late Zaha Hadid made some great buildings, but if reality is any indication, they’ve been pretty brutal on the environment. Grand design can sometimes take a toll on the ecosystem. However, the firm Zaha Hadid Architects is now working towards being environemtally responsible while continuing to uphold the legacy of the ‘First Lady of Architecture’. Instead of building something beautiful with the iconic Zaha Hadid style irrespective of the repercussions, the Alai residency located on the Mayan riviera in Mexico has an element of ecologically aware design. Aside from ensuring that ecological impact is kept to a minimum, Zaha Hadid Architects plan to landscape a woodland nature reserve, together with the replanting of coastal wetland to protect and enhance the riviera’s mangroves.

4. BM Design Studios designed these concave shaped roofs at the Primary school for Iran that win our hearts not just for being iconic, but for being iconic with a rather ingenious purpose and innovative technique. These terracotta satellites are too cool for school, as they funnel in rainwater, effectively harvesting it for use, given Iran’s arid climate while also using terracotta’s cooling properties to act as a natural air conditioner for the classrooms. What better way of influencing kids to be sensitive to sustainable living than exposing them to study & grow in a space like this one?

5. It’s completely believable that these rather curvaceous towers by MAD Architects were referred to by local residents as the Marylin Monroe towers. I’m not kidding, this is absolutely true! Can you disagree though. For starters, I can’t take my eyes off these incredible highrises too! Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, the Absolute skyscrapers look almost molded by the wind!

6. What looks like a beehive-esque building from afar is actually just very clever design. The honeycomb pattern is known to provide structural integrity, but look closely at the hexagon. Truncate the bottom bit off and you have a traditional house shape! The Urban Rural habitation by Eray Carbajo actually rely on the hexagon shape to provide housing space on the upper half of the hexagon, and a soil bed on the lower half, allowing each flat to effectively have their own greenery-laden porch, just like a rural settlement!

7. If Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie explored layering individual living cells in a seemingly randomized fashion, the Interlace by Ole Scheeren does that with entire towers. Instead of keeping towers vertically, they’re stacked horizontally in a honeycomb fashion (recurring theme? maybe!), not only fitting more residences in the same area, but also creating a series of cantilevered zones that become terrace gardens in themselves. Mind blown!

8. This building embodies out-of-the-box thinking with inside-the-box construction! Designed to be an affordable home for veterans in LA, this community building titled The Six (possibly because of the six sided cube it looks like) was built by Brooks+Scarpa with the aim to provide a residential space for veterans, who occupy 3% of the population, but 11% of the homeless population in Los Angeles.

9. Definitely the most crazy architectural attempt out there, the Central Park expansion project by Yitan Sun & Jianshi Wu does something pretty smart. The large number of skyscrapers surrounding the park has destroyed the view for park goers, blocking the city’s skyline, as well as the sunrise and sunset. The solution? Line the entire part’s boundary with massive mirrors, giving it the illusion of infinity! Easier said than done, though…

10. What essentially is a flat, cube shaped building by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), gets an entirely different dynamic the minute the faces of the cube get a sawtooth texture. Interesting, yet rather closed off, if you’re still wondering why this building has a seemingly no-trespassers vibe to it, it’s because it is a high-security emergency facility located in Bronx, NY, designed to strengthen the city’s 911 service by being a back-up facility for a remotely located primary call center.

Co-Authored by Khyati Seth

This is our fourth installment in the series, which means we’ve done this for a whole month! This week we’ve been bestowed with some truly amazing pieces of architectural work as Architizer’s A+ Awards come to a wrap. Alongside some of our favorite picks from everywhere, we’ll also showcase a few YD favorites from the A+ Awards this year!

1. It may interest you to know that one of the most prolific architects of our time, Moshe Safdie, responsible for the Habitat 67 (which we covered earlier this week), and the Holocaust Museum… is on Behance! Yes, his works are up on the portfolio site, and this one’s picked right from there. Known to work extensively with exposed concrete, Safdie Architects designed the National Gallery of Canada using the Brutalist style he’s well known for. He also makes extensive use of glass to make sure the building achieves two things. That it makes maximum use of natural light during the day, and looks like an absolute lit-up jewel at night!

2. From the grand works of Safdie, to the quaint prefab homes by Kodasema. This tiny 25 square-meter apartment has everything you need and comes fully ready to live in. It also boasts of an additional feature. It can be completely disassembled, transported, and reassembled elsewhere in a day! Read our cover on the Kodasema here.

3. Designer Dennis Palmadessa partnered with Neighborhood Services of New Orleans and the Make it Right Foundation to create these pre-fab single-room shops for local vendors. Sliding doors and privacy glasses make sure that vendors get a good deal of space, along with privacy, to conduct their daily business. Titled the URBANbuild-8, they exist as prototypes for future intervention in New Orleans.

4. We thought the Aurlios Chapel had to be one for the Architreasure books. Designed by Metro Cúbico Digital, this abstracted version of what traditional chapels look like is sure an eye-catcher. Iconic on the outside and hallowed on the inside, the steeple design actually channels the sunlight to shine as a glorious beam, making the altar look divine!

5. We kick off our A+ Award fave list with the Bahá’í Temple of South America by Hariri Pontarini Architects. Known for being a very neutral and accommodating religion, Bahá’í temples act as places of spirituality rather than propagating religious beliefs. Designed for everyone, religious or athiest, from all cultures and walks of life, the temple takes the shape of a closed flower bud emanating from the earth. The use of light as a sign of life and natural spirit looks brilliant as rays emanate from within the ‘folds’ of the bud after sunset.

6. The Poly International Plaza by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) is a definite visual and structural all rounder, the geometric pattern isn’t just overwhelmingly iconic but serves as a smart support system for the floors above and below along with extended free voids, forming expanded shared meeting rooms & rather admirable curved staircases on the inside. In addition to the way the building looks, it also has a direct view of Beijing during the day & functionally helps in cutting down energy consumption due to indoor insulation.

7. This temporary installation should just get points for its brilliant initiative! Designed by Atelier Kastelic Buffey, this community driven lending library titled Story Pod allows people to step into the pod and subsequently into a world of their own imagination when they pick up a book to read. Situated right in the historic downtown core of Newmarket, Ontario, the pod’s design attracts passersby from afar, and once up close, who can truly resist the temptation to step inside and read a good book!?

8. Surrounded by the most advanced looking fruit packaging warehouses lies a man-made specially curated environmental courtyard known as the Washington Fruit Company. The space is not just cost efficient courtesy design and material selection, but also a controlled set up for perfect natural lighting. Designed to reflect modernity, yet take inspiration from an aging barn that the client had expressed as a favorite, this Graham Baba designed warehouse certainly breaks stereotypes of warehouses looking ‘boring’ and un-designed!

9. If a warehouse can be made to look warm and friendly, so can a bank! The Sugamo Shinkin Bank / Nakaaoki Branch, by Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design completely diverts from the stern/no-nonsense aesthetic avatars of banking buildings. Designed to look fun, vibrant, and inviting, the bank branch makes use of a 3D front facade that looks different from each angle, and memorable for sure!

10. We decided to end on a high note with a design that has a hypnotic, helical, organic charm that fondly reminds us of the Guggenheim Museum. The Ribbon Chapel by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP stands proudly enjoying a panoramic view of Seto Inland Sea in Onomichi, Hiroshima. Used mainly for weddings, the chapel’s construction is visually dominated by the two ribbon-like spiral staircases/aisles, with glass panels filling in the gaps, creating the chapel’s hall-space on the inside. The two aisles/pathways are designed so that the bride and the groom can walk up to the top of the chapel, and descend downwards into the hall together united as one. What a lovely way to use architecture to guide human movement, that too with such meaningful and visual grace!

Co-Authored by Khyati Seth