Tag Archives: modular cabin

This Minecraft-inspired modular building system lets you customize your dream cabin!

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We’ve gotten creative with how we’ve passed the time in quarantine. Some of us have redesigned our entire homes, while some of us have taken up a new hobby. And you can find the rest of us sprawled on the couch playing video games or binge-watching sitcoms. In a sort of ode to how we’ve adapted to quarantine, JaK Studio, an architecture, and design firm based in London and Sarajevo, has designed HOM3, a customizable and modular Minecraft-inspired home-building system.

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.”

Committed to artfully showcasing all that we’ve done and learned in quarantine including our environmental impact, the modules built by JaK Studio are made from wood and cork material that has been sustainably sourced or recycled. Additionally, each module is designed following Passivhaus insulating principles, ultimately making for a self-sustained and contained home. The modules that comprise HOM3’s building system start off with a fundamental block module that measures 1.5 x 1.5 meters, which costs $1,193. I wouldn’t mind spending some quality quarantine time here.

Designer: JaK Studio

Future owners of HOM3 have the chance to set the size, shape, configuration, and location of their modular cabin.

HOM3 was designed to create a physical space where owners can spend time how they so choose– whether it be a spa, gym, bedroom, or office space.

The interior is also up to the future owner to configure. Depending on the size of the cabin, users can create space for working, exercising, and sleeping.

JaK Studio’s HOM3 system allows owners to create cabins fit for city spaces as well.

The modular layout of HOM3 allows the cabins to be placed anywhere.

The most basic, and smallest sized block modules can also be used in busy city spaces for private meeting places or rest spots.

This tiny A-frame cabin can be transported anywhere for a spontaneous escape to nature!

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Being cooped up indoors as a result of the global pandemic, many of us have been getting creative with new ways of traveling and escaping to cabins in nature. Some of us are road tripping and stopping at peak destinations along the way, some of us are migrating back home for more nostalgic ventures, and then the rest of us are sticking to good, old-fashioned camping. Designed especially to bring people closer to the great outdoors, Bivvi is a modular and transportable A-frame cabin that can either be attached to your car for road trips or to a chosen foundation for permanent placement.

The creators at Bivvi make up a team of travelers and adventure-seekers– they built Bivvi so that we can be too. They set out to build Bivvi after noticing the inherently immobile and expensive nature of cabins and other modes of residence for travelers already on the market. Taking on mobility as their main source of inspiration, each Bivvi Cabin can be attached to a trailer hitch and tow so that they can be transported anywhere. The team behind Bivvi even outfit their A-frame cabins with off-grid capabilities including three 600W AC outlets and a 100W solar panel, so they really do mean anywhere.

Bivvi’s triangular shape measures 8-6’’ wide x 11’-6’’ long and 10’-6’’ tall, providing enough space for a full-sized bed and an optional desk to fit inside the cabin’s interiors, which are paneled in pinewood or plywood, with options for either Douglas fir or birch. The bed can be positioned just underneath the Bivvi Cabin’s triangle picture window, so guests can sleep and nestle as close to nature as possible.

To get even closer to nature, each cabin is also prefabricated in a factory with sustainably sourced materials to maintain eco-friendly building practices. Offering natural ventilation window openings, stained and sealed tongue-and-groove cedar siding, full insulation, locking door hardware, additional porthole windows, and durable metal roofing, a Bivvi Cabin provides all one might need to get away to the great outdoors.

Designer: Bivvi Camp

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Bivvi Cabins can either remain transportable via trailer hitch and tows or can be situated and fastened to chosen foundations.

Bivvi Cabins can be easily be attached to cars and transported anywhere.

Whether you’re looking for a more remote experience or communal getaway, Bivvi Cabin can accommodate your travel needs.

Bivvi Camp comes outfitted with durable metal roofing to ensure a weatherproof buid.

Inside, Bivvi Camp can fit a full-sized bed and even a desk.

While the exterior of Bivvi Camp boasts a durable, long-lasting metal coat, the interiors are warmed up with natural pine wood.

A triangular picture window provides guests with up-close views of the surrounding nature.

Bivvi Cabin can accommodate large groups of travelers or lone travelers looking for a quick getaway.

This modular hotel concept merges environmentalism with escapism, making it the ideal retreat for 2021!

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Koto Design, a team of architects and designers known for constructing Scandinavian-inspired modular homes and small buildings, has recently teamed up with Aylott + Van Tromp, an experience-driven design and strategy team, to deliver Hytte, a new modular hotel concept. The collaboration was one born of the times. With the onset of COVID-19 came socially distancing regulations, which put a damper on a lot of our travel plans. However, the regulations have also brought us closer to a collective quest for community and a renewed sense of environmentalism. Noticing this, Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp conceptualized Hytte.

Similar in appearance to Koto Design’s existing geometric cabins, Hytte is a modular concept that delivers clusters of cabin units to landowners, developers, and operators who hope to provide an escapist experience to guests looking for a retreat or holiday. The makers at Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp design and build everything from the ebony black exterior to the cabin’s refined interiors. Merging with the natural surroundings, the cabins capture a minimalist Nordic design, with a soothing balance of natural wood and marbled stone interiors. Inside the units, guests will find a single room with a wood stove fireplace, a sunken bed that merges with a nearby window bench and storage area, a separate bathroom, and finally, a cathedral skylight that brings guests even closer to the outdoors.

Each concept is based around a single cabin unit, which can increase to a cluster of multiple modular units, reinforcing the comfort of a community that socially distanced regulations have curbed by means of hotel shutdowns and resort modifications. In constructing the modular concept of Hytte, Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp hope to reinstill a sense of community for those looking for a retreat and to present it in settings that encourage guests to reflect on the relationship between travelers and their environment.

Designers: Koto Design x Aylott + Van Tromp

Hytte cabins merge with the surrounding outdoors no matter where they’re placed.

Reinforcing a traditional sense of community, Hytte can accommodate clusters of cabins.

“Hytte redefines prefabricated, modular hotels and retreats dedicated to creating space for escapism.”

Ebony-stained wooden panes line the exterior of each cabin unit.

Come night, each cabin blends into the darkness, emanating only the light that comes from indoors.

Each bathroom in Hytte’s cabins comes equipped with storage areas, a shower, and a wash basin.

Hytte’s cabins include a king-sized sunken bed that merges with the unit’s glass windows.

“They are fully constructed & fitted out and furnished within the factory and will arrive on site ready to be used.”

This sustainably designed, modular, ecological tiny house gets assembled & dismantled in 5 days!

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Proto-Habitat is a sustainable and innovative tiny house prototype designed to be modular, ecological, and affordable. And the best part? It can be assembled and dismantled in 5 days! The tiny prefab house is completely transportable and another step forward in a sustainable lifestyle. The goal was to create flexible spaces for living and working and Proto-Habitat achieved that with a floor area of ​​30 m² which can be extended up to 90 m² if needed. It is constructed using only locally sourced wood from sustainably managed forests and even offers exemplary traceability for the comfort of use and healthy life.

Wald.City is a French design studio that built the prototype project as part of a one-year research program at the French Academy in Rome to explore new forms of housing. Proto-Habitat is unique because it is scalable and adaptable to several different settings – it can be used for everything from individual housing to collective buildings to remote workplaces! Since sustainability was a key focus in this design, it was made using 100% timber materials which were sourced within 500 kms of Bordeaux in southwestern France. All other products and elements of the house were also carefully chosen from local industries that followed responsible waste management and sustainable forestry practices. Wood is the primary material here and brings a warm, cozy, minimalist cabin aesthetic to the contemporary interiors.

Apart from sustainability and scalability, the next important element for Proto-Habitat was mobility. The base unit of the modular house can be assembled in five days by three people and a truck crane – it does not require a foundation. The base module features an open-plan ground floor, a mezzanine, and an elevated sunroom that has a curved roof. “Shifting the role of the architect to ‘facilitator,’ the prototype and research aim to explore new forms and spaces to live together, and alternative financing methods,” the architects explained in a project statement. Proto-Habitat tries to develop a possible solution for the growing needs of a flexible lifestyle. It allows you to match your space to your life’s pace, your work, and your wallet.

Designer: Wald.City

Prefabricated as a gym or an office, this lightweight modular cabin is the answer to 2020’s travel blues!

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With stay-at-home orders getting stricter in some cities, daydreaming about travel feels like some faraway consolation prize. Thankfully, however, plenty of tiny home and micro cabin designs have come from the woes of 2020 and turned our daydreams into reality. Studio Puisto, an interior design studio based in Finland, collaborated with furniture brand Made By Choice and design firm Portos Demos to create Space of Mind, a modular, micro cabin prefabricated to be stationed anywhere so that guests can go from their home office to an off-grid mountain studio for peace and productivity.

I don’t know about you, but it is getting harder and harder to get work done in my apartment – every day feels the same. We’re certainly in this, and by this I mean 2020, together and no matter how we see ourselves ‘getting away from it all,’ Space of Mind currently has three options. The modular cabin can be stationed anywhere accessible by helicopter or crane and designed as either a peaceful working studio, dynamic fitness hub, or a cozy, hotel-style bedroom. Studio Puisto, turning their micro cabin design into a micro-hospitality solution, even has plans in the works for creating an app for bookings and keyless entry and constructing another micro cabin outfitted with a sauna.

After all, Space of Mind’s integral attribute is its changeability, which is highlighted by the designers, “The outer wooden structure acts as a blank slate while the interior is adjustable to individual preferences, creating a space that can manifest into a gym for one and into a home office for another.” Inside the micro cabin, pieces of furniture like bed frames and benches are supported by wooden rungs that provide guests with a little bit of their own creative direction in regard to interior design. Both Space of Mind’s interiors and exteriors are constructed using ecologically-sourced Finnish wood, providing durability for even the harshest of Arctic winters. Proving that, “with less, we can feel more,” Studio Puisto did not include added insulation to their cabins, asserting that this brings guests closer to the raw elements of the outdoors.

With an overall architectural footprint of just below 10m2, Space of Mind is designed to be lightweight, minimal, and compact – an empty canvas. Studio Puisto brings their modular, tiny home to those who need some space most, allowing guests to decide how they’d personally prefer the peace of mind. Studio Puisto knows that can be attained either through grounding yoga in the great outdoors or finally getting that work project done away from the city noise so they let you decide, “No matter whether it is placed in a backyard, rooftop terrace or even the nearby forest, Space of Mind acts as a spatial solution that fosters a similar experience – just without leaving home.”

Designers: Studio Puisto with Made By Choice and Protos Demos

This modular cabin uses industrial zinc to help Costa Rica meet its Carbon Neutral by 2021 pledge!

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Costa Rica is widely celebrated as one of the most environmentally progressive countries in the world, pledging in 2015 to become a carbon-neutral country by 2021. Naturally, in order to uphold that pledge, Úbáli Tropical Living, a Costa Rican architecture firm committed to sustainable hotel tourism, designs eco-friendly modular cabins for various terrains that have been conceived and constructed in order to decrease carbon footprints typically caused by tourism.

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. Prepared for the most extreme of climates, Kabëk is assembled using industrial zinc, an extremely durable material that reforms nicks and blemishes thanks to its own hydroxyl carbonate protective layer. Additionally, industrial zinc’s levels of low toxicity are ideal for modular homes situated in natural settings. Industrial zinc is recyclable, durable, and an eco-conscious option for roofs. For example, rainwater that flows off Kabëk’s roof does not collect any hazardous waste on its way to the ground’s soil. Kabëk’s transportability is inherently green as the construction process preserves the natural settings on which Kabëk is situated. Furthermore, the materials used to build the modular home – industrial zinc, gypsum, and Densglass – form an ecologically sound structure that can withstand irregular changes in weather.

Once buyers attain land and construction permits, the building process takes just about two months to reach completion. In addition to the environmentally sustainable qualities and money-conscious design concept, Kabëk comes with installed septic tanks and the properly outfitted facilities needed for longer stays. The home is equipped with essential lifestyle products and tools in order to maintain convenience for a trip that otherwise brings you one on one with the mountain’s bare, albeit restorative, necessities.

Designers: Pablo Esteban Valle and Arthur Micheron x Úbáli Tropical Living