Tag Archives: Modular Architecture

This modular structure concept can help quickly build homes and schools after wars

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Wars are ugly, no matter which way you look at them. It destroys not only buildings and infrastructure but, more importantly, lives. Rebuilding war-torn areas have always been a big problem for countries devastated by battles, especially when time is of the essence. With the technologies and resources we have at our disposal today, however, that doesn’t have to be the case anymore, at least not when trying to set up essential facilities and housing. When speed and adaptability are top priorities, nothing beats a modular design, and this particular concept puts modularity in the service of rebuilding a nation’s infrastructures, especially schools that will keep young people safe and well-educated to build a better, war-free future for themselves and the rest of the world.

Designer: ZIKZAK Architects

Modular houses and buildings aren’t a novel concept, but most of the time, these are designed with convenience, economy, and space efficiency in mind. While those elements are beneficial in any situation, rebuilding destroyed structures to provide immediate housing and emergency facilities has a different set of priorities. Buildings have to be set up quickly to fill certain needs, but they also need to be flexible so that the same buildings can be used for other purposes once those needs pass.

REVIVAL is an architectural design concept that tries to address these particular needs by using a block system. Each block has a collapsible design that starts with a steel frame. At first glance, it actually looks more like a typical shipping container, and they do share some similarities in basic shape. Unlike a container, however, REVIVAL blocks have wall slabs that are made with an aluminum frame and filled with insulation like mineral wool.

Blocks can be designed with specific purposes in mind, like lodging, medical, dining, sports, or classrooms. A residential unit could house four people and include a bathroom and a kitchen, and these could then be combined to form an apartment block for multiple families. These blocks, when placed on top of or beside each other, form the very structure that would make up a building or a campus.

Being modular, the architectural system can be expanded or shrunk as the needs dictate. Cities won’t always be in an emergency mode, and clinics or patient rooms won’t always be in demand. It will be possible to then change blocks or change functions without requiring a redesign of the building or complex. And if necessary, the blocks can also be disassembled to be moved to a different location in case the building has outgrown the initial space allocated for it.

Of course, all this still requires a bit of work, but it is considerably less work compared to building a school from scratch, rebuilding or adding new areas, and then taking it down again. It’s also more economical and more efficient as far as resources go, and when you’re trying to rebuild a nation after a war, those resources will be pretty scarce in the first place.

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Domestico is a compact and tiny living space that promises more function and storage

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Domestico Tiny Home Designer

Tiny home living is definitely a thing now, and it’s actually fast becoming a lifestyle that many people here and abroad want to embrace. It has a certain charm and appeal that individuals and families have considered, especially when the pandemic started.

Many people from all over the world have figured out how they want to live their lives. We are encouraged to curate a sustainable, simple, and yet comfortable lifestyle. We are not saying we forego the luxuries in life, but maybe, just maybe, tiny home living will be good for you and me.

Designer: Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Vascone

Domestico Tiny Home Modules

People who are switching to a more minimalist lifestyle are doing it slowly but surely. It is one big decision that will totally change your life. Architects Juan Alberto Andrade and María José Vascone know how living or working in a small space is a reality many people are facing today. The two have come up with a special design for a live-work space that offers both function and ample space for storage.

Doméstico is a mini studio situated in the Qorner building in Quito, Ecuador. The building was designed by Moshe Safdie but for now, we’ll focus on the tiny studio built by two other designers. With a space of only 27.5 square meters (296 square feet), Doméstico offers comfort even while in a restricted space. It is mainly a home more than just a workspace so it can offer solutions to common living problems.

Domestico Tiny Home System

Domestico is meant for modern living in urban spaces where people need to adapt and be flexible. It offers different spaces for different activities and needs. There is a living area, workspace, a kitchen, pantry, bedroom, pantry, personal closet, bar, breakfast area, and even a library rack.

You will be surprised the designers were able to make the Domestico functional in all of its 27.5 sqm space. It’s a very small space and yet a lot of functions are offered. At first glance, you will think it’s a massive closet. Well, it does look like a cabinet you would normally find in big houses. It’s more like a walk-in closet with lots of storage not only for clothes but also for other stuff.

Domestico LIving Area Workspace Storage Bed

On the left part of the Domestico, you will see a mobile ladder that leads up to the loft area. In this area is a pull-down table that can serve as a dining or breakfast area or as a home office. At night, you can pull down the bigger portion to reveal a sleeping area like a murphy bed. The loft and the rest of the tiny home function as storage. The right side can be pulled out to reveal storage for clothes and shoes. The module in this area shows a curved structure for a smoother layout and aesthetic.

Domestico Tiny Home Living

Domestico Tiny Home Designer

The layout is clever because it can accept independent modules that allow anyone to organize his space. Basically, there are different modules that you can use and organize depending on your need and style. Wood is mainly used, giving a cozy and homey appeal. The green paint used on the loft adds some more coziness to the small home. Ideally, this system must be placed near a huge window to allow a nice view of the city.

The loft offers more storage areas for a clutter-free home. You will never run out of storage space in the Domestico because there is storage everywhere. A module has the bathroom and another has the wardrobe. There is also a kitchen area in one of the modules. You will also find more bookshelves and a laundry area.

Domestico Tiny Home Designer

The designers made sure they connect interior design, furniture design, and architecture in the Domestico. This is one creative solution that can help tiny home living more appealing than ever. If you are looking for more reasons to finally jump into the minimalist lifestyle, you may want to check on the Domestico.

Domestico LIving Area Workspace Storage

The Domestico isn’t overwhelming to look at but you may be overwhelmed with the storage space provided. Of course, you are encouraged to live a more minimalist and clutter-free lifestyle since you can’t store everything in such a tiny home. But when you need to store your things and keep the clutter off the surface or your view, you have a lot of storage options.

Domestico Workspace

Domestico Workspace Station

Domestico Workspace Living Station

Domestico Modular

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This prefabricated modern cabin is clad in black and hidden in plain sight on Colonia’s coast

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Nestled in the coastal woods of Colonia, Casa ZGZ is a prefabricated, single-story cabin that’s clad in black to hide the modern home in plain sight.

Montevideo-based architecture firm iHouse constructs prefabricated homes using the latest dry construction methods currently trending on the international stage. With only 70 days to build a home for Conrado, an Uruguayan living in London, on his family’s property in Colonia, iHouse was well-equipped to take on the project. Formed by the merging of two modules, Casa ZGZ was constructed offsite and then installed on the family’s property in just five days.

Designer: iHouse

As Colonia is one of Uruguay’s oldest towns, the team behind Casa ZGZ hoped to maintain the spirit of the region’s historical architecture while contemporizing the cabin to accommodate modern needs. The single-level residence is clad in black in an effort to present hide the home in plain sight amongst the many elements of nature that surround it. The black exterior also warms up the home’s wooden interior, which is paneled with wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Speaking to this, the firm’s cofounders Marcelo Mederos and Andres Garcia explain, “The commission was to generate a rest home, cozy as are the small typical wooden cabins of the hemisphere where it resides, but in a contemporary enclave that can also withstand the vertiginousness of modern life and contemplate all the comforts of it, as well as rational use of resources trying to minimize the environmental impact.”

Minimizing the home’s impact on the region’s environment and land, Casa ZGZ was constructed offsite in two modules. Joined together by their longest side, one module houses the home’s wet services, including the bathrooms and kitchen. Then, the other module hosts the bedrooms and common spaces, like the dining area and living room.

Designed as an artificial structure that “coexists in harmony with a space alien to its language,” it was important for the architects to equip the home in close proximity to the nature that surrounds it. Comprising only one floor, Casa ZGZ finds space and height through an open floor layout and floor-to-ceiling window facades. Describing the creative choice for window facades, the cofounders explain, “The fully glazed main facade with a large gallery allows the total opening of each of the areas of the house, thus virtually expanding its area towards nature.”

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These geodesic domes built from bioceramics are a form of regenerative architecture

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Geoship is a home building cooperative committed to innovative construction methods that use bioceramics to produce geodesic domes.

As environmental needs continue to influence the trajectory of modern architecture and design, the process of building homes continues to evolve. Vertical forest complexes punctuate city skylines with teeming gardens and prefabricated construction systems are turning into the preferred building method for many architects.

Enter regenerative architecture, a branch of construction that aims to reverse the toll that home building takes on nature, while also producing a net-positive impact on the environment. Geoship, a homebuilding cooperative, uses regenerative building methods for their collection of bioceramic, geodesic domes to carve a new path towards environmentally responsible construction.

Inspired by “the geometry of life,” Geoship’s construction system is defined by the dome’s geodesic shape, chosen for its proximity to several aspects of life, from molecules to the force of gravity itself. Each geodesic dome is also built from nature’s composite, a bioceramic material that forms using, “the same chemical bonding occurs in bones, seashells, and even the ancient pyramids of Giza.”

From the outside of the domes to their insulated interior spaces, Geoship applied a seamless construction process for each material to naturally blend into each other. The building process behind the geodesic domes is affordable and highly efficient to further Geoship’s green initiative.

Supported by a system of struts that outline the dome’s geodesic shape, exterior panels and insulated window frames clad the dome’s frame with weather-resistant and mold-proof facades. Each module that comprises the dome’s structure is connected by a hexagonal hub to ensure secure fastening.

Each module of the geodesic dome is comprised of ceramic crystals that are molded into a triangular shape. Then, the modules are pieced together to form the dome’s geodesic shape.

During the construction process, the carbon required to construct geodesic domes and the modules is far less when compared to traditional home building methods that use sandstone or even passive solar energy.

Amounting to a fire and flood-proof, hurricane and earthquake-resistant home dwelling, the regenerative construction process behind Geoship is also sustainable. Generating zero waste, less CO2 emissions, and a recyclable structure, Geoship’s domes have a 500-year life and can be installed within a very short time frame.

Designed to produce home structures that will remain in place for centuries, Geoship’s regenerative building process is backed by materials science with aim of creating micro-factory and village design platforms to prove the innovative building method’s feasibility.

Designer: Geoship

Geoship’s collection of geodesic homes are constructed using bioceramic building material.

A system of internal struts support the exterior facades of each geodesic dome. 

Geoship also conceptualized their geodesic domes in different colors to appeal to different uses. 

The geodesic domes form Geoship come in an array of different sizes, from small studios to larger family homes.

Ideated as a village of geodesic domes, Geoship will progress their home building system to clusters of domes to prove the system’s large-scale feasibility. 

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Plant Prefab’s patented home building system uses sustainable construction methods to design affordable housing

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Plant Prefab, a sustainable home construction company committed to prefabricated buildings, launched its patented Plant Building System, allowing for home construction that produces less waste and requires little to no land alteration.

Contributing to nearly 40% of the planet’s carbon greenhouse emissions, home-building generally involves the excessive use of resources, construction waste, and land alterations. As the world moves toward environmental consciousness, various industries are following suit.

Designer: Plant Prefab

In direct response to the world’s cities facing rapid urbanization and large-scale construction projects, Plant Prefab is a sustainable building company that constructs prefabricated homes from a patented Plant Building System™.

With the demand for residential homes increasing by the day, more and more architects are opting for prefabricated building methods. Prefabricated building methods, just like Plant Prefab’s Plant Building System™, allow architects to construct homes during circumstances that otherwise would not allow for construction to take place.

Explaining this in regard to a custom single-family home designed by the Brown Studio, Plant Prefab says, “Plant prefabricated the home during the late fall and early winter when on-site construction would have been nearly impossible.”

In addition to being able to construct a home during colder seasons, the construction process of prefabricated homes is contained within off-site factories, requiring fewer skilled laborers and producing far less waste from shipping and handling.

Amounting to a construction process that’s 20% to 50% faster than conventional building methods, Plant Prefab’s patented system takes on a hybrid, modular model for home building. Leaning on a modular building system, the method is adaptive by design. As the construction process continues, endless configurations can be brainstormed so that adjustments can be made as needed.

While Plant Prefab is currently committed to custom builds, the company hopes to produce around 900,000square feet of living space per year, which would amount to approximately 800 units of varying sizes. Formed as a solution to combat the impending housing crisis, Plant Prefab’s Plant Building System™ hopes to join its focus from single and multi-family units with larger-scale developments, like student-based and affordable housing.

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Stackable prefabricated modules are here to create futuristic LEGO-inspired buildings

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PolyBloc is a prefabricated, modular housing solution designed to confront the demands of rapid urbanization and globalized lifestyles.

As the ways we work and live evolve, so do the ways we confront architecture. In direct response to rapid urbanization and the fall of the nuclear family, city architecture, in particular, is seeing major changes. In collaboration with pioneering companies who share their goal of “reimagining today’s habitat,” Paris-based architecture studio Cutwork developed PolyBloc. Designed as a prefabricated building system that implements industrial production and modular construction, PolyBlock is a “means [of] confronting the rising housing crisis.”

Designer: Cutwork

Noting the world’s inevitable pull towards shared spaces and mobile lifestyles, the creatives behind PolyBloc set out with the aim of revolutionizing urban architecture. Initially conceived as PolyRoom, a prefabricated single-room, 21-square-meter (226-square-foot) unit defined by its flexibility and multi-use nature, PolyBloc marks the studio’s larger-scale progression.

Focusing on the reproduction value and modularity of PolyRoom, Cutwork went about developing PolyBloc as a means of “creating adaptive, flexible housing solutions in different contexts, from urban to rural.” Adaptive and flexible in its very purpose, each PolyRoom is outfitted with concealed, multi-use pieces of furniture that save and create space for growing needs.

Designed to be a centralized room without an established purpose, PolyRoom takes cues from Japanese design concepts like ‘washitsu’ and ‘tatami room,’ design modes that reconfigure spaces to accommodate residents’ needs. With this in mind, each module comes stocked with multifunctional furniture like disappearing beds, foldable storage cabinets, and telescopic rail systems that transition partitions and doors to create more floor space.

To further each module’s appeal to cohabitation and multi-usability, PolyRoom is outfitted with living roofs and facades that utilize automatic irrigation systems to embrace different cities’ unique biodiversity. Finding flexibility and multifunctionality in a modular building method, PolyBloc is composed of modules that stack together like LEGO building blocks.

The PolyRoom units from Cutwork essentially can be constructed in bulk and stacked together to form full-sized residential complexes in different cities much quicker than traditional building methods allow. Forward-thinking in their creative process and mission, Cutwork explains, “It’s not only about building objects and spaces; it’s about crafting the systems to build [objects and spaces]–systems to help solve the challenges ahead.”

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This prefab home constructed from six modules features one floating shipping container

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The Amagansett Modular house is a 1,800-square-foot prefabricated home constructed from stacked shipping containers.

As pandemic-related circumstances continue to change global industries, we are seeing the transformation of architecture take shape in real-time. While some architects and designers are working quickly to keep up with the shifting scope, others have been ahead of the curve for long before it became popular.

For the past ten years, the Manhattan-based MB Architecture firm has been research-prototyping their latest and most intricate prefabricated residential home yet. The Amagansett Modular home is a 1,800-square-foot home comprised of multiple shipping containers stacked together to form a unique, seemingly cantilevered structure.

Located in Amagansett’s East Hampton village, the Amagansett Modular is one of many modern homes that take disused shipping containers to construct modular houses with little waste. Considering the durable and inexpensive nature of shipping containers, they’re the ideal option for building prefabricated homes and MB Architecture is no stranger.

Modeled after their circa-2008 insta_house, the Amagansett Modular home is a custom design for a family of four. While the insta_house is a scalable, prefabricated structure formed from four stacked shipping containers, the Amagansett Modular house takes on two additional shipping containers to meet the couple’s requirements.

Amounting to a four-bedroom, three-bath family home, an additional module is connected to the rest of the structure via a glassed-in walkway that leads the home’s residents from the main living spaces to the family’s children’s bedrooms. Whereas the couple’s main bedroom is stationed inside the home’s halved, 10-foot module, the children’s bedrooms remain ground-level.

While the 10-foot, cubic module appears to be cantilevered, the top of it is drawn back with tension to ensure steady support, as the founder of MB Architecture Maziar Behrooz describes,

“The structural design of the 10′ pop-out on the second floor is unique. There are no beams under it—it looks afloat. Technically it is not a cantilever—but it is structured from the top (roof) and held back in tension, down to the foundation on the opposite side. It’s kind of a structural breakthrough—we used the inherent structural strength of the containers to our advantage.”

Throughout the home, floor-to-ceiling windows take up entire sides of the shipping containers. The expansive windows help to bring the home’s residents closer to the surrounding nature while also making the home feel more spacious.

Designer: MB Architecture

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This self-sufficient architecture outfitted with smart technology provides a solution for our future cities!

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Ripple is a smart urban structure with integrated technology and self-sufficiency systems to offer a solution for the cities of tomorrow.

Taking place in Wuppertal, Germany, 2021’s Solar Decathalon Europe (SDE21) focuses on urbanization and the development of urban areas through technical and sustainable innovation. Contestant designs spanned ten categories, from social awareness to architecture. One student team from the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands, VIRTUe designed a self-sufficient housing model called Ripple.

Competing against 17 different teams, VIRTUe developed Ripple as one possible “[solution] for the cities of tomorrow,” 2021’s theme for SDE. The solutions produced for this year’s SDE range everywhere from renovations for pre-existing buildings in Wuppertal, standalone structures built to fill the gaps of urban fabrics, and building extensions that service to sustainably increase urban density.

Falling into the final category, Ripple is a self-sufficient apartment structure made from repurposed wood and outfitted with a solar roof that supplies power for the structure’s integrated smart technology. Modular by design, the solar roof can change orientations depending on the best angle to capture the most amount of sunlight. Designed with integrated walking space along the perimeter of the roof, the photovoltaic panels capture sunlight to create a microclimate that sustains a small collection of the region’s biodiversity.

Connecting two apartments together, a communal space functions as the structure’s stationary technical core. There, residents will find the living room and kitchen along with a digital interface that controls all of the structure’s integrated smart technology. While the technical stationary core works as the structure’s main hub, residents can configure the different room modules to fit their needs. In addition to its modular structure, Ripple saves space through furniture with built-in hidden storage compartments that free up the home’s available living space.

Elsewhere, the home’s self-sufficiency systems provide solar power for a hot water system, heat pump, ventilation mechanics, and the main smart home system EQUI. Ensuring the energy is aptly used and spread out throughout the day, EQUI uses weather forecast statistics to approximate how much energy needs to be stored for the system to operate soundly. Finally, an accompanying app Recapp connects similar smart homes with urban facilities via digital maps.

Designer: VIRTUe

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

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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 Cabin + Architecture Designs that expand according to your living as well as working needs!

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Modular architecture is officially on the rise! They give us the freedom and ability to create a home, office, or even a holiday cabin according to our needs and wants. Customizing or putting together a space exactly the way we want isn’t a far-off dream anymore. Your dream home or dream cabin retreat is now a reality with these amazing modular architectural designs. From a prefab modular tiny home that expands as you need, to a modular dome that can function as a greenhouse or tiny home – this collection of modular architectural designs can be anything you want them to be! The possibilities are endless.

Woonpioniers, an Amsterdam-based architecture, and design studio has created Indigo, a modular building system that designs homes to replicate one of your dreams. Depending on the home you’d like to build with Woonpioniers, Indigo’s structure and shape may vary. Recently, Lia Harmsen collaborated with Woonpioniers to design her live-in workspace for sculpting. The finished custom two-floor home measures 861-square-feet and features fixed-end moment building practices that produce a beautiful, curved interior leading from the wall to the ceiling. The fixed-end moment frame of the home offers an open-air floor plan, giving complete access for the building’s interior layout to take shape, leaving behind the spatial restriction of support beams and partitions.

Casa Ojalá has been constructed with carefully selected timbers, fabrics made from recycled plastic, and handmade ceramics. It also has integrated photovoltaic panels, a rainwater recovery system, and a black water depuration advanced biological plant – all of which allow it to be set up even in the most remote locations. Each cabin will source local materials and therefore no destination will have the same casa but each will be woven with the roots of the land creating infinite possibilities within the same floor area anywhere in the world.

Dubbed Micro Home, UOOU Studio developed the tiny home to be anything from a weekend retreat to a remote office space. Micro Home’s versatility comes through with its convertible roof that incorporates sliding awnings to open and close throughout the day as needed. This means that space can transform throughout the day from a sunbathing bungalow to a sheltered home office. Micro Home is constructed off-site with sustainable building materials like wood and OSB paneling, leaving a low carbon footprint and making it lightweight for easy shipping and handling. After it’s been positioned into place, Micro Home’s roof is tiled with solar panels to generate the home with power. While the building material and solar panels outfit each individual Micro Home, UOOU Studio made it so that owners can customize the interior and overall shape of their Micro 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.

This cluster of prefab cabins is located in a Slovakian forest for Hotel Björnson but can also be stand-alone homes. The minimalist shelters have a Scandinavian aesthetic and give you an eco-friendly getaway with minimal environmental impact. Ark Shelter has also won a Cezaar award in the category Architectural Fenomena – a recognition for the most exceptional architectural achievements of the year. The modern retreat is made of 11 cabins and four wellness units that include saunas and relaxation rooms. The shelters are built in one piece, which gives the incredible mobility to reach your dream location. Every cabin rests on stilts to minimize site impact and has been carefully placed in between the trees to give you maximum privacy and maximum views!

Úbáli, which means chameleon in Bribri, designed their first modular cabin, called Kabëk, specifically to befit mountain living. The first model for the Úbáli Tropical Living’s eco-tourism initiative dons an inclined roof, which allows the modular house to tuck right into mountainous terrains and offers travelers the chance to fully immerse themselves and their stays in the quiet of the wood. The modular cabin has a simple design layout of four walls that enclose a bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and dining room. The construction process also promotes frugality in regard to both time and money in that its modularity and simple layout caters to the prospect of easy and relatively affordable replication.

Amsterdam-based architecture firm GG-loop collaborated with Arup to design a modular building system that focuses on regenerative sustainable living and urban development. Created with biophilic principles and parametric design tools, the hypnotizing prefab timber modules we see will be optimized to be flexible and scalable. This will let the building continue expansion with time in several different urban settings while accommodating the changing times which often results in changing needs. The ability to expand the structural hub is where the building gets its name from. Mitosis can be used for a wide range right from creating communities with off-grid, single-family homes to high-density, mixed-use zones in cities. GG-loop’s pilot project Freebooter was the foundation for Mitosis and is in itself an award-winning pair of prefabricated, cross-laminated timber apartments that were completed last year in Amsterdam.

Treehouses inherently exude an air of myth and adventure. When stationed either in dense jungles as a natural hub to study wildlife or placed in a suburban backyard for kids, the treehouse is the place where the escapist can let their hair down. Take the treehouse and tuck it next to an old French castle in the countryside and it’s something straight from the storybooks. Forma Atelier, a Mexico-based architecture firm, turned that storybook setting into reality with their modular treehouse concept that cleverly combines razor-sharp triangular roofs with sweeping glass window panes to share the rural hills with that of an old French château.

Think of Ekodome as the grown-up version of building forts with bedsheets and pillows. Just like your fort could be anything you imagined from a storefront to a palace, these geometric domes are also designed to be anything from tiny homes to greenhouses! The modular design of these geodesic dome kits gives you endless possibilities and I, for one, would love to convert it into a creative home office. Ekodome is a New York City-based company and they have many different models and sizes for you to choose from. The base concept is simple, it involves an aluminum frame that you can easily assemble DIY-style. The dome is crafted from high-quality and durable materials so that it is more than a temporary shelter while still retaining its modular, scalable, and lightweight nature. Your kit will come with the aluminum hub and hub caps with an EPDM seal on.

In creating HOM3, which stands for ‘Home Office Module Cubed,’ the designers at JaK Studio felt inspired by the home-building system featured in Minecraft– the best part of playing video games. To build your own multifunctional HOM3 cabin, JaK Studio is currently working with game designers from AI Interactive to make the process of creating the floor plan feel and look very similar to the process of building your Minecraft home. HOM3 essentially turns the virtual home design process of Minecraft into reality. Speaking to this, founding partner of JaK Studio, Jacob Low says, “During [the] lockdown, our team became fascinated by the principles of games such as Minecraft which allow people to transform and customize their environments, and we began experimenting with the idea of customizable, modular micro-architecture. HOM3 transports what we found in the gaming world to the physical space, offering a really unique design solution for modern living.”