Tag Archives: prefab cabin

These sustainable DIY flatpack cabin kits let you build your dream off-grid cabin with your own two hands!

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Backcountry Hut Company released a collection of DIY A-frame cabin kits that allows buyers to build their own cabins without construction permits and little to no heavy machinery.

For the past couple of years, spending the winter months in an A-frame cabin somewhere in a snow-covered forest has been at the forefront of our minds. While we’re all itching for a wintry escape, the feasibility of building our own cabin always feels just out of reach. While prefabricated cabins and campers-turned-tiny-homes are exciting options if you’ve got the funds, Backcountry Hut Company designed a more cost-effective answer for the rest of us. Designing a collection of DIY off-grid cabin kits, Backcountry Hut Company made the cabin of our dreams a reality in four different models.

Each cabin ‘system,’ comes prefabricated in a flat-pack layout that can be assembled either by amateur or professional builders depending on the model. System 00 is described as Backcountry’s “essentialist A-frame shelter.” Stocked with only the essentials, System 00 measures 10’x10’ and was designed to welcome living spaces such as a single bedroom with room for one sleeping bunk, a meditation studio for yoga, or an open space for working on art.

Backcountry’s smallest cabin, System 00 was designed to be self-assembled by a team of four to five builders within a week. Requiring no heavy machinery, System 00 is the only cabin from Backcountry’s catalog that does not require a construction permit.

System 01, the older sibling to Backcountry’s essentialist A-frame cabin, comes in at 18.5’x10’, providing more than enough space for a family or group of friends to live comfortably with enough space for living and sleeping. With the right set of professional builders, System 01 can be put together with little to no mechanical assistance in less than one week. The type of cabin that Goldilocks would call, “just right,” System 01 strikes the perfect balance between tiny living and spacious ceilings.

System 02, the largest cabin design from Backcountry is their most customizable. Rising to two stories, System 02 also measures 18.5’x10’, providing more than enough space for a couple of bedrooms and accompanying ensuite bathrooms. Each cabin is built to withstand all weather elements and conditions, including rain, snow, sleet, and hail.

Inspired by Nordic sauna culture, Backcountry was sure to include a DIY kit for those who’d prefer more of a tiny spa to a tiny cabin. System S is Backcountry’s representative sauna structure, measuring 8’x10’. Lined with sustainably sourced cedar, Backcountry customers can rest assured each cabin design is first built with timber that has been certified by Forest Stewardship Council. While the beds are left to the smaller cabins and the larger System 02 home, up to six adults can sit back and relax in System S to enjoy the sauna’s Tylo Sense Pure 8 heating system.

Designer: Backcountry Hut Company

The post These sustainable DIY flatpack cabin kits let you build your dream off-grid cabin with your own two hands! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This prefabricated cabin is a holiday retreat that balances a rustic personality with modern details!

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Iniö is a prefabricated log home from Pluspuu designed for a Switzerland-based Finnish couple who’d like a holiday retreat in their hometown of Heinola.

Pluspuu knows log cabins better than we do. Based in Helsinki, the prefabricated log cabin design company constructs high-quality log houses and cabins alongside Pirkanmaa-based Ollikaisen Hirsirakenne Oy, a family-run cabin construction company with over 40 years’ worth of experience. For a Finnish couple who relocated to Switzerland, Pluspuu’s prefabricated Iniö log house came as the ideal home for holiday retreats in their hometown of Heinola.

Pluspuu currently keeps a catalog of twelve prefabricated log houses. Out of the twelve, the couple settled on Iniö for its rustic personality that’s interwoven with distinct modern touches like expansive floor-to-ceiling windows and a bright, unstained wooden interior. Iniö comes as a two-level, three-bedroom log house stationed behind lofty eaves that create plenty of overhang for the home’s wraparound patio.

Merging the overhang with the home’s front facade, 20-foot, floor-to-ceiling windows dissolve the barrier between the interior living space and outdoor seasons. Noting the proximity of the outdoors via the home’s expansive windows, Elina, one of Iniö’s residents, says, “[The] windows on three sides of the living room make it feel as though you are outside—you can experience all four seasons very intimately.”

As part of Pluspuu’s appeal, the company’s cabins come prefabricated. However, clients can customize each cabin’s finer details to suit their own needs and taste. Outfitting their log house with a unique ceiling specific to Finland, the couple asked Pluspuu and Ollikaisen Hirsirakenne Oy to incorporate a rimakatto ceiling, paneling the interior’s ceiling with lathe battens to give the home a softer look and sharper acoustics.

Outside, the log house is fortified by column-and-beam, non-settling log beams and cross-laminated timber boards. Built to withstand all four seasons, Iniö is insulated from the inside, out with eight-inch-thick spruce logs and wood fiber that help neutralize indoor temperatures and humidity levels. Residents can rest easy, assured that geothermal heating and triple-glazed windows doubly provide proper insulation.

Designers: Pluspuu & Ollikaisen Hirsirakenne Oy

Beyond Iniö, beside the nearby lake, a 10-person hot tub and sauna provide a warm sanctuary during colder seasons. 

The post This prefabricated cabin is a holiday retreat that balances a rustic personality with modern details! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This AI-enabled tiny home gets a design upgrade making it more spacious and futuristic!

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Nestron is one of my favorite tiny home builders – they are modern, minimal, and AI-enabled! The sure in tiny homes is not a design trend but an architectural movement that is here to stay, they are more affordable, more sustainable, and more conducive to our evolving flexible lifestyles when compared to traditional houses. Nestron’s latest model is the Cube Two X which has been built upon the existing Cube Two’s functionality and aesthetics with more upgrades keeping in mind a bigger family instead of a two-person household. Take the full virtual tour here!





Cube Two XD is a prefab unit available in two models – a one-bedroom or two-bedroom configuration, and is clad with steel and fiber-reinforced plastic. Singapore-based architecture studio has designed this modern home by drawing inspiration from sci-fi and spacecraft imagery.

The company’s latest prefab builds on the aesthetics and the functionality of their Cube 2 model. “We figured it was time to give the Cube 2 line an upgrade, and thus Cube Two X was born,” Law says. Since the launch of their Cube series, Nestron received numerous requests for an even larger unit with the option for two bedrooms. The company responded to demand by creating Cube Two X, a scaled-up version of the Cube Two.

The one-bedroom and two-bedroom Cube Two X models offer 376 square feet of living space. The structure consists of a steel frame wrapped with fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) siding that can withstand extreme heat and natural disasters.”All of our products are made with high-resistance materials,” Law says. “The FRP exterior wall panels are less likely to rust or corrode, and they hold up in high temperatures, harsh environments, and extreme weather conditions, including heatwaves, hurricanes, and earthquakes.”

Built-in furniture preserves floor space in the tiny home. The designers outfitted the dining area with a built-in table for two and created a sleek built-in sofa for the living space. Optional features include electric-heated flooring, a smart mirror, a music system, and a concealed electric stove. “The invisible stove is a unique space-saving idea,” Law says. “It’s a seamless kitchen counter when you’re not cooking, but when you are, the counter transforms into a stovetop.”

Curved edges and voice-controlled tech lend a futuristic feel to the home, which is designed so that it can be shipped anywhere in the world and arrive move-in ready. “The home is fully equipped with built-in furniture that helps to maximize floor space,” Law says. “There’s no installation needed upon arrival. Much like how a washing machine works, our clients just need local contractors to wind up the power sockets and the water supply and then Cube Two X is a fully functioning home.”

For how high tech the tiny home is, it makes a relatively low impact on the environment. “Ninety percent of the materials we use are recyclable,” Law says. “The interior wood wall panels, for example, are made from non-virgin wood and recycled plastic that’s environmentally friendly and 100 percent recyclable.”

The bedroom has a large built-in wardrobe and a recessed wall niche for storage above the bed. “We make a big effort to care for the environment because we believe everything starts at home,” he says. “Living in your home should be an experience that’s environmentally friendly—and we’d like for people to be able to live a sustainable lifestyle without additional effort.” The bathroom features a smart mirror and an electric pulse toilet.

The Cube Two X is also prefabricated in a factory environment, which helps to reduce material waste. “This speeds construction time by up to 50 percent compared to on-site construction, which takes around one month,” Law says. “It’s a faster and more cost-effective process, ensuring we have no construction waste, as we use prefabricated molds to shape our products, which greatly increases accuracy.”

If the cinematic worlds of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and William Hanna and Joseph Barbera’s The Jetsons were combined to create a tiny home, it might just be Nestron’s Cube Two X – tech lovers and digital nomads are going to love this innovative home!

Designer: Nestron

Prefab Architecture that are the affordable + sustainable housing solutions we need in 2021!

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Prefabricated architecture has been gaining a lot of popularity and momentum recently! It basically involves making buildings or building various components at a particular location, one that is better suited for construction, and then once completed, transporting it to the final site or location. Prefab architectural designs have a multitude of benefits – they keep costs down, ensure projects are more sustainable and efficient, and they also prioritize and pay attention to simplicity and modularity. And we have curated a collection of our favorite prefabricated designs for you – from cozy tiny homes to a sustainable home that looks like a cruise ship! These prefabricated designs are a part of a growing trend in modern architecture, and could be the future of it as well!

Developed from the Danish word Hyggee, Hüga was conceptualized, designed, and built over a span of 24 months, during which Grandio’s team of designers were able to produce a 45 m2 residence with space for a bedroom, living room, bathroom, kitchen, and dining area. The final results are these hüga units that are built with reinforced concrete and designed for minimal maintenance as well as reducing your energy costs. These compact homes can withstand all climates and adverse conditions, including earthquakes, wildfires, and hurricanes. Hüga homes are also mobile and modular so much so that you can extend your house in plan in just one day. Weighing about 55-Tn, Hüga requires a team and machinery for transportation but can be placed according to the prospective resident’s preference.

This prefab dwelling comes flat-packed in multiple boxes and can be assembled in 45 days without the help of heavy machinery. It uses extrusion-die aluminum framing that’s anchored with rebar to the ground or a poured concrete foundation. Just like a Lego set, there is a network of steel doughnuts that spans lengths of up to 30 feet to support the structure. The aluminum studs link seamlessly to joists and the exterior cladding is clipped onto the frame. It’s a method that could be extended to 45 feet which makes it modular and easier to expand in case the home belongs to a growing family. Pi House can be shipped anywhere, the system allows it to be the perfect structure for single-family homes as well as larger projects like social housing.

Exosteel comprises a group of modular steel homes that would be constructed using ​​a 3D-printed construction system that supports and distributes all the functional elements of the building. Mask Architects co-founders Danilo Petta and Öznur Pınar Çer felt inspired by Costantino Nivola’s sculpture work, in particular a travertine sculpture called ‘La Madre.’ Punctuating the terrain of a sloping mountainside in Sardinia, Exosteel is comprised of heart-shaped, white homes with center ‘energy towers,’ oriented in the same way as the head on Nivola’s ‘La Madre.’

If you are ever lost while trekking in harsh weather in Iceland, then you should pray and hope to find refuge in a glamping oasis like the Skyli Trekking Cabin. Skyli means “shelter” in Icelandic and it can provide shelter to 15 mountaineers at a time. The angular structure features four gabled roofs and resembles a tent but is actually clad in a steel facade to protect you from the weather. The bright blue color makes it easily visible in the rugged landscape while also paying homage to the architecture of the country’s capital. All components being pre-fabricated so that they could be transported flat, winched underneath a helicopter, and constructed in situ – a process Utopia Arkitekter estimates would take between two and three days.

Meet ARCspace, a modular architecture firm that is constantly creating innovative designs and material development to do its part in curbing the emissions for their industry using sustainable, affordable, prefabricated homes. All structures are prefabricated for highly efficient and quick builds which reduce emissions and minimizes waste. ARCspace reports the buildings are “spec-built from the ground up in 40-60% less time and cost than traditional construction.” Residents can fully customize their tiny homes or even scale up to the size of traditional homes and have a huge range of interior design details to choose from including optional elements that provide off-grid power and water. Some homes feature self-contained atmospheric water generators called Hydropanels that are grid-independent and pull a few liters of drinking water out of the air each day.

Sail House has a central structure called the main house with several guest houses bordering it and all nestled on the lush Bequia Island in the Caribbean – didn’t I say it literally brings a cruise home? Since the Caribbean is a notoriously difficult area to source building materials, the team made sure that the entire project – the main house and the guesthouses – were prefabricated offsite, flat-packed, and delivered in 15 shipping containers. This ensured minimal site impact to the sensitive ecosystem and was nearly zero waste which is important because otherwise, the construction waste would have had to be transported out of the island which would increase emissions.

This luxury cabin-style structure is located on the Dutch island of Texel in the Netherlands and is just a short walk to the North Sea. Designed by Rotterdam-based Orange Architects, the modern villa saves space thanks to its prefabricated construction and flexible layout. Yes, you read that right – it has a flexible layout which means instead of building separate rooms for different purposes that are divided by walls like a traditional home, the designers optimized the floor plan with prefab, multifunctional spaces that can be transformed or divided temporarily to create separate zones for different functions.

Modeled after the intricate paper folding art of Origami, the pod’s initial folded form can fit onto flatbed trucks for efficient and manageable shipping. Once positioned for assembly, the pod from Hariri & Hariri readily expands and unfolds to create a prefabricated and modular, single-story housing unit. Born out of a need for emergency shelter across the globe, the architects behind the pod note, “In the middle of a hurricane you don’t have time for a screwdriver.” With this in mind, the pod was designed to instantaneously unfold and build itself with the push of a button. Structured like a pop-up cardboard box, hinges and hidden panels strewn across the pod’s creases aid in the unit’s assembly process. Whether multiple emergency shelters are needed or if the pod is used as a luxury single home unit for a beachside vacation, the modular construction allows the pod to either be configured together with multiple pods to form community shelters or stand alone as a single prefabricated unit.

Studio Puisto collaborated with nature tourism entrepreneur Kari Vainio and installed the first prototype in the forest of Hyvinkää, Finland. One 1,205-square-foot, U-shaped villa is the core of the layout and consists of two accompanying studio units. All three units come with a keyless check-in system and ready-made furniture. Uni means “dream” in Finnish and it alludes to the dreams that aspiring hospitality entrepreneurs will be able to fulfill their own micro-resorts that won’t require the big capital investment that hotels do. This first Uni Villa even won the title of Best in Finland in 2020! Two courses were designed by Canadian golf course architect Thomas McBroom and are set in the most pristine environment between a natural forest and a lake.

Putting an absolutely new kind of spin on “Home Delivery”, Brette Haus’ prefabricated cabins are literally shipped to your location on the back of a trailer. In a matter of 3 hours, the home is placed on the site, unfolded, and secured in place, turning it from one weird wooden carton into a liveable cabin with anywhere between 22 to 47 sq. ft. of space (depending on the cabin’s variant). Each cabin takes roughly 8 weeks to fabricate and comes made entirely from carbon-neutral, weather-proof, and sustainable cross-laminated timber. There is no need for a permanent foundation… the cabins can easily be unfolded on any leveled ground before being secured in place using screw piles. The hinges on the cabin can survive up to 100 folding cycles.

This eco-friendly prefab cabin in the Italian alpines needs to be on AirBnB!

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Who wouldn’t want to pack up and move to a beautiful tiny home that sits atop a hill in Aosta Valley, Italy? The House in Chamois is made of our sustainable architecture dreams – a modern, prefabricated home by Torino-based firm Leap Factory. As with all “Leap Houses,” the home’s entire design and construction process was managed by the Leap Factory team and was constructed with a modular system built of natural, recyclable materials to allow for maximum flexibility. All of the components provided by Leap Factory for the House in Chamois were also designed and produced in Italy.

The House in Chamois was created for Barbara and Giorgio, a duo with a deep appreciation for the outdoors. Used as a base for exploring the alpine landscape, the two-story home echoes the traditional vernacular with its gabled shape but is undeniably contemporary as defined by its streamlined form, minimalist design and full-height glazing. Its position above a main road turns the house into a new landmark for the village and has become a local attraction for visiting hikers.

As a ‘Living Ecological Alpine Pod’ (LEAP), the House in Chamois was designed to be environmentally friendly. The use of prefabrication helps minimize construction waste, and the installation process was done with minimal site impact. The structure is also “hyper secure” and engineered to resist earthquakes, hurricanes and other extreme climate activities.

The modular nature of the home also makes it modifiable. As with all Leap Houses, the House in Chamois was also designed with integrated furniture and finishes. “With its minimal shapes and spaces full of light, the house shows incredible attention to details, lines and materials,” the architects explained. “The layout of the rooms, furnishings and technical systems are fully integrated to give life to spaces where one can fully express their personality and live in harmony with their surroundings.”

Designer: Leap Factory

These 3D printed pods are sustainable personal offices that you can subscribe to just like Netflix!

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Post the pandemic, all of us have realized the importance of having a dedicated space where we can focus on work without having to explain on our zoom calls what the noise in the background is. Meet the Denizen Architype pod – a smart, functional, personal office that supports your remote work life and also could double up as a creative escape! This prefabricated office is designed with everything you need for the perfect work day and you can set it up anywhere in the world if you have subscribed to it – it’s like Netflix but for a physical office space.

Denizen pods want to help reduce central office costs while adapting to the changes like remote work and flexible lifestyle. The 100 sqft pod is a modern solution with a small footprint that can help retain global talent, maximize productivity and reduce environmental impact that big corporate offices have. “It is ideally suited for high-volume production as a consumer product – more like an automobile or smartphone than a conventional building. Leveraging the latest in 3D printing, robotic fabrication, and technology integration, Denizen can mass-produce high-quality office units that are not only more desirable spaces to work than conventional offices, but also cheaper and faster to build,” says the team in their press release.

The modern tiny office is constructed from premium materials like sustainably harvested timber, 3D printed biopolymers, and durable metal cladding. The tech has been integrated in the pod to make your work from home life as easy as possible. The company hopes to partner with cities to help deploy pods in green spaces to build communities and upgrade neighborhoods so that those who don’t have a backyard big enough for the pod can still subscribe and take advantage of it. This will mean less space for cars, office parks, and parking lots; more space for people, culture, and nature in the city. Remote tech and architecture is a critical tool for eliminating the carbon impact of business flights and traditional office buildings.

“There is a major unmet need in the shift to flexible, remote, and hybrid work, and it’s going to take conventional real estate decades to catch up. Even prior to the pandemic, offices were expensive, distracting, and inconvenient. A better solution was needed. We’ve created a space so inspiring that it will change the way you want to work and live. And by offering it as a subscription service, we make it natural for employers to give their teams a professional, connected, and safe work environment,” says Nick Foley, CEO of Denizen.

The desk seamlessly blends within the large glass arch that has a switchable privacy glass made of two layers with liquid crystals in between – this is expensive so we wonder if it will be a feature available only for the higher end subscription models. It has audiophile-grade speakers and 40 Amp electrical service for the structure. Another question for the team would be the source of electricity since they are pushing for sustainability and reduction of carbon footprint. The Denizen pod is still at a conceptual stage but is an interesting way to decentralize offices as we know it!

Designer: Denizen

Our favorite tiny prefab home made 99% offsite is the future of affordable & sustainable construction has unveiled new information!

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Hüga means finding happiness in small things, a concept born from the Danish philosophy ‘Hygee that is followed by thousands of people around the world. This is exactly where Grandio drew its inspiration from to develop a unique, different project that combines a set of brilliant ideas with design, construction, and marketing. After 24 months of work by a multidisciplinary team of professionals from Córdoba, Hüga was born – the future of the tiny home movement!

Grandio uses its technology to keep the architectural industry to date with its building system that allows for 99% offsite construction. In October 2020, they unveiled their very first prefabricated concrete home called Hüga. Today, the team has developed an advanced enough system using the same technology that can be deployed for commercial, hospitality, and residential functions thus scaling up its positive impact on sustainable construction. Hüga was made to find a solution for the unsatisfying demand in housing and public buildings because that industry has remained the same for centuries. ‘the use of brick in our constructions for over 5000 years is a clear example of how the construction industry is reluctant to change. The construction industry is still looking for a satisfactory solution, one that replaces the slow and expensive traditional systems that require skilled labor.

The Argentina-based studio wanted to provide a more efficient way to build and formed a multidisciplinary team of 23 professionals, civil, mechanical, and industrial engineers, architects, industrial designers, and specialist technicians to create modern construction methods (MMC) and world-class manufacturing (WCM). The final results are these hüga units that are built with reinforced concrete and designed for minimal maintenance as well as reducing your energy costs. These compact homes can withstand all climates and adverse conditions, including earthquakes, wildfires, and hurricanes. Hüga homes are also mobile and modular so much so that you can extend your house in plan in just one day.

Hüga also reduces construction time and any company can use integrate this technology. The goal of this design is to democratize technology with an affordable technological license for professionals or construction companies so that impact can be made on a large scale keeping the environmental impact in mind. This license helps companies with daily monitoring and support from professionals in both construction and sales processes. Both consumers and companies using the system will benefit from any new innovations developed by the Grandio R&D laboratory for free as their community benefit. But it’s not just for homes, Hüga can also be used for commercial functions like cafés or restaurants.

“Hüga technology aims to revolutionize the construction industry, achieving innovation in the final product, in its commercialization, and especially in its manufacturing process. With the use of modern construction methods (MMC) and the efficiency of world-class manufacturing (WCM), all companies in the hüga ecosystem will be able to present disruptive building responses to the current and future demand of our planet. The massive use of this technology will accelerate the urgent changes that our population needs. Hüga technology came to change history in the construction industry. Hüga came to revolutionize our way of living, undertaking, or investing,” concludes the Grandio team. We can imagine Hüga urban villages as the future of sustainable, affordable, and flexible living!

Designer: Grandio

These modular tiny homes have been grouped together to make a sustainable ski resort!

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I have an obsession with tiny houses because they let you be a proud homeowner without having to spend the rest of your life paying mortgages while optimizing every inch of space to work for your needs. Sustainably designed architecture projects like this one from Ark Shelter top my list – they are modern, flexible, modular, and help you do your bit for the environment without compromising on your lifestyle. 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! These units have two independent modules that can function as separate apartments or can be connected to create one shared space that can host up to eight people. There is a sliding wall partition that helps split or combine the cabin into two units and each comes with a living room, bedroom, children’s room, entry hall, and a bathroom.

Ark Shelter’s team used blackened spruce to clad the exteriors to blend the structure with the landscape. The cabins also have green roofs to visually tie the structures with the forest. The interiors were lined with large format spruce panels and oak parquet floors for a minimalist and spacious feel that was aligned with the Scandinavian aesthetic. The large insulated glazing blurs the boundaries between the interior and outdoor landscape. They are also fitted with an intelligent control system for heating and lighting so you can actually spend the whole day in bed or at the coffee table just staring out those huge windows. The skylight is one of my favorite details!

“We consider the concept of placing the modules between the trees ecological, not only for the tree preservation but also for the minimum contact of the modules with the ground due to raising them on stilts instead of laying on the classic concrete plate foundations. This allows the landscape to continuously flow under the building and breathe, while the green roof of the module doubles the biotope that lays beneath it,” explained the architects.

Ark Shelter aims to provide a shelter that helps you reconnect with nature while protecting both you and nature. These durable homes are oriented with our biological rhythms and have been designed to be adaptable to different stages of our lives. Each Ark Shelter cabin is built to expand, contract, move and keep up with the changing times, technology, and most importantly your needs – all without putting any burden on the planet. Now have I convinced you to be a tiny homeowner too?

Designers: Martin Mikovčák and Michiel De Backer of Ark Shelter













This sustainable tiny home creates one modern multifunctional living space to reduce its carbon footprint and cost!

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Nowadays, most of us are thinking tiny, especially when it comes to living spaces. Tiny homes and prefabricated cabins have spread across the globe like wildfire and for good reason. Many of us are still eager to travel and can do that with a tiny home hitched to the back of a truck, then some of us prefer tiny homes for their cost-effectiveness, and the rest of us hope to reduce our personal carbon footprints by taking up less space. Johannesburg-based architect Clara da Cruz Almeida designed her prefabricated tiny home, Pod-Idladla with the idea of creating a tiny living space for young graduates without the means for a downpayment.

Before the manufacturing process, Pod-Idladla was conceived by Clara for young professionals to have a sustainable, affordable, and multifunctional living space. Inside, the living areas form one fluid space, rather than individual rooms. Walking through the unit’s front door, vertical storage solutions line the unit’s veneered walls and universal brackets allow the plywood storage bins to be moved around the pod. Even the pieces of furniture, from the kitchen table to the living room sofa, have dual purposes to optimize the unit’s space allowing residents to customize the space however they like. To merge practicality with convenience, the shower is even located in the passageway, which is outfitted with duck boarding, or slatted wooden flooring to keep the timber from getting wet.

Speaking on the unit’s multifunctionality, Clara says her tiny home contains, “spaces, not rooms. You could use the task room to store clothes or to keep your sports equipment. You could have an upstairs study if you don’t want to sleep on the mezzanine.”

Coming up with Pod-Idladla, Clara created a prefabricated modular home that could either stand by itself or attach to additional modules. Measuring a mere seventeen square meters, Pod-Idladla was built to fit into most backyards or small outdoor areas. The frame of Pod-Idladla takes the shape of an upright trapezoid to easily cozy up against any wall or attach to additional units. Each tiny home is built from standard drywall materials, including steel, aluminum, and wood. Outside, the home is clad in timber that can last up to 100 years with the proper care and maintenance. To save on transportation costs, the prefabricated components of Pod-Idladla are constructed in a Johannesburg-based factory and assembled on site.

Designers: POD-iDLADLA

Inside, the unit feels more like one multifunctional space, containing the functionality of the kitchen just below the mezzanine bedroom.

Small enough to fit into most backyards, POD-iDLADLA measures 20.52 square meters including the outdoor deck.

A ladder brings residents from the ground level to the mezzanine that can keep the bed or be morphed into an upstairs office.

The kitchen and dining area merge into one with the help of multifunctional furniture, like the expandable kitchen table.

Vertical storage solutions punctuate the unit’s veneered walls throughout.

Plywood boxes make up the unit’s storage spaces and can be moved throughout the unit.

Clara chose Dokter and Misses to design the interior for their industrial, yet quirky design schemes.

Even the unit’s light fixtures can be moved from their sockets and placed elsewhere in the home.

This tiny cabin shaped like the home icon features floor-to-ceiling facades for nature lovers!

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Tiny homes have taken the globe like a storm, cropping up in backyards and remote forests throughout recent years. The tiny home is the home built for whatever you might need– remote working, fitness or yoga space, a meditation room, or even just an outdoor playhouse for the kids. The Bunkie Co., a team of designers, craftsmen, furniture makers, have designed and built their own line of tiny homes, including one called Monarch, an eleven-foot tall single room cabin designed for anything between, eating, working, playing, and sleeping.

With the pandemic keeping us indoors for the majority of this past year, tiny homes have only surged in popularity, begging designers to bring their interpretations into the mix. Monarch from The Bunkie Co., measures at 12′-6″W x 8′-6”D x 11′-6″H, comes complete with a fully glazed, floor-to-ceiling front-facade and standing seam steel metal cladding all around for a generally thicker grade of steel compared to typical metal cladding.

While owners of Monarch have the choice of getting standard dual airflow vents installed onsite by the contractor, the rest of the tiny cabin comes outfitted with R22 insulated walls and floors, so Monarch could practically function as an escape from home on a year-round basis. Inside, Monarch can accommodate a small electric fireplace with heat control, as well as additional storage cabinets and table furniture like chairs and fold-out desks. UV coated maple veneer plywood panels line the walls of Monarch, providing a warm ambiance to complement the cabin’s soft white lighting.

To adapt to the changing seasons, owners can either get engineered hardwood flooring or luxury vinyl flooring installed as opposed to the maple veneer plywood panels. In addition to the conveniences of insulation and natural airflow, each unit comes with the option of installing a wall bed so work that turns into play could turn into sleep. Designed to become the space that’s unique to you and your needs, Monarch really is the tiny cabin designed for everything from eating and working to playing and sleeping.

Designer: The Bunkie Co.

The Monarch from The Bunkie Co. features a fully glazed, floor-to-ceiling front-facing facade to bring owners as close to nature as they can get.

The ideal size to fit into a backyard or pool deck, Monarch from The Bunkie Co. can be placed discreetly in remote locations for isolated work sessions or meditations.

Built to be transported, each unit is constructed offsite before getting placed in the owner’s preferred location.

Filling out a similar area tot hat of a backyard shed, the Monarch tiny home fits right into the average-sized backyard.

Inside, maple veneer plywood panels line the walls to embrace a warm interior.

Owners have the option of installing a murphy bed for the ultimate tiny home that can do it all.

Natural light coming in from the glass facades provide enough warmth and light to fill up the whole cabin.

Owners can decorate the inside of their cabin according to their needs and the cabin’s function.

Shades can also be installed to keep the natural light from heating up the cabin too much during the warmer seasons.