This prefabricated, off-grid home features an upside-down layout to take in all of the outdoor views!

The Falcon House is a modular, prefabricated home with an upside-down layout and off-grid capabilities designed by sustainable architecture studio Koto.

Koto, an architecture studio known for building modular Scandinavian-inspired houses, is familiar with sustainable design. While sustainability is no stranger to modern home-building either, Koto has made an art out of designing off-grid, prefabricated houses that can be assembled in a mountainside forest just as well as they can on a residential street in the suburbs. Envisioning their latest project, the Falcon House, atop a rolling hill, right beside a foggy lake, Koto achieves a carbon-neutral design by flipping the home’s layout upside down.

Partly immersed in the surrounding woodlands, the Falcon House pokes through from the nearby forest with sharp angles and a geometric silhouette. Conceived to maximize the total living space and available views of the surrounding landscape, Koto flipped the Falcon House’s layout upside down. Nicknamed the Upside Down Home, Koto’s latest home is defined by two cuboid modules stacked almost perpendicularly together.

The topmost module is where the home’s cohabitation spaces are kept, such as the dining and living rooms, as well as the kitchen. There, Koto brightened the home’s interiors with double-glazed, floor-to-ceiling windows that draw pools of sunlight into the interiors throughout the day.

Downstairs, on the home’s ground level, the home’s main two bedrooms, ensuite, shower, and utility closet can be found. Opting for a warmer, more intimate feeling, the bottom module only features one set of sliding glass doors, enhancing the interior’s nest-like quality.

In building the Falcon House, Koto utilized a “plug-and-play” construction system, where all of the home’s modules are constructed and prefabricated offsite before coming together on site. The Falcon House’s dark, cross-laminated timber exterior is contrasted with the interior’s whitewashed, wood-paneled walls. Evocative of Yakisugi, a Japanese wood charring process that weatherproofs timber building material, the Falcon House’s black exterior becomes a cloak in the dark of the night.

Designer: Koto

Upstairs, the home’s cohabitation living spaces can be found.

The ground-level module contains the home’s bedrooms and bathroom facilities. 

Natural, unadorned walls panel the interior of the Falcon House.

The kitchen finds rusticity and warmth through Scandinavian-inspired interior design elements.

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Modular architectural design that brings a healthy mix of Scandinavian design and sustainability to your home!

Plant Prefab, a California-based architecture firm that prefabricates sustainable homes, recently collaborated with Koto, a UK-based studio that designs modular homes, to build two residences called LivingHomes. Devised to meet both LEED Platinum and net-zero standards, the homes were also designed and built on some Scandinavian design principles: minimalism and biophilia. Biophilia is the hypothetical human tendency to interact with nature. Biophilic design, which could be inherently minimalist, interprets that human tendency for both interior and exterior spaces, producing a design concept used to increase the connectivity between a building’s residents and the natural world. In order to meet sustainability standards that match Plant Prefab’s mission statement, Koto looked toward Scandinavian design standards. Together they created two LivingHomes, constructed with recycled building materials with respect to the natural world, equipped with ultra-efficient heating and cooling systems, smart energy monitoring, LED lighting, recycled insulation and drywall, and low-flow water fixtures.

The first home, Yksi, is a cantilevered, two-bedroom residence that employs biophilic design principles through ample deck space and large windows with unobstructed views of natural surroundings. On the first floor of Yksi, which means ‘first’ in Finnish, there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, an office space, and a utility closet. The bedrooms are located on opposite ends of Yksi’s first floor, giving the feel of separate wings for the home’s residents, which enhances the design team’s devotion to Scandinavian design, conveying a sense of quiet luxury. Each bedroom comes with windows that practically take up an entire facade of the two-floor structure. Moving up to the second floor, Yksi is equipped with an open-plan kitchen for excellent cross-ventilation, a dining area, and two separate, outdoor deck areas for easy access to the open air.

The second home, which is named after the Finnish word for ‘courtyard,’ Piha offers four bedrooms and three bedrooms, two courtyards and a deck, and a vast open living space that forms the heart of the home. On the first floor, the open living space incorporates clever use of walls to delineate distinct rooms such as the kitchen and snug, a hideaway just off the main living area. Punctuating the open living area are two courtyards that offer sweeping views of nature and a deck that can be accessed through double-glass sliding doors. Residents can also find two of the four bedrooms on the first floor, once again on opposite ends for prime privacy and quiet, that are separated by a staircase. Following the staircase up to the second floor, residents will find two more bedrooms, one being the master bedroom, complete with an en-suite bath, marked with massive windows for endless views.

Designers: Plant Prefab x Koto

This flat-packed sustainable cabin is every child’s dream playhouse!

Meaning Joy in Finnish, the Ilo Playhouse is Koto’s first children’s cabin. And this wonderfully minimalist playhouse makes me want to dive right back into my childhood. Inspired by the simplistic beauty of Scandinavian timber cabins, Ilo appeals to both children and adults alike.

Boasting an elegant log structure, supported by a slanted rooftop, the cabin comprises of three closed sides and an open one. Each closed side features a long rectangular window. The spacious windows and the open entryway allow the children to have their own personal space, all the while retaining a connection to the outside world. A place of their own, without having them feel too isolated. Ilo is perfect for the kids to read and play in, as well as engage in arts and crafts, with the open-spaced structure fueling the fire that is their imagination.

Ilo has been completely crafted from sustainable materials. The cabin is handmade in the UK using locally sourced larch timbers, recycled rubber flooring, as well as all-natural paints and finishes. It can be delivered to you fully built, or you could opt for the flat-packed option and have it constructed on-site easily.

“Our passion is to create beautiful, unique and original spaces using high-quality natural, sustainable materials, ensuring long-lasting products that can be used for years to come,” said the designers. Natural, eco-friendly, and simple, Ilo is Koto’s design philosophy come to life. It’s a playhouse that even adults would like to hide out in for a while!

Designer: Johnathon Little, Zoe Little and Theodore Dales of Koto