Prefabricated Homes and Modular Housing
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High Design for Unique Property Investment
The latest trend in housing design is clearly the new modernist style prefabricated house. A far cry from a few years ago when prefab was relegated to trailer parks and A Frame cottages. Today's prefabs are now being designed by some of the most important architects throughout the world and have become the hot trend for the economically mobile.
An amazing array of stylish modernist prefabs are now available, including designs delivered complete to the site via trailer or tugboat, flat-packed house kits and even collapsible studios that can be moved via SUV and portable penthouses built to be flown from city rooftop to the country via helicopter. Weehouse, It House, Up! House, Bachkit, Smallhouse, Swellhouse, Corpod and Smartshax are just a few of the designer prefabs available.
Sizes and prices range from about $33,000 USD for an LV-Home kit by Missouri-based Rocio Romero to as much as a million dollars.
An amazing array of stylish modernist prefabs are now available, including designs delivered complete to the site via trailer or tugboat, flat-packed house kits and even collapsible studios that can be moved via SUV and portable penthouses built to be flown from city rooftop to the country via helicopter. Weehouse, It House, Up! House, Bachkit, Smallhouse, Swellhouse, Corpod and Smartshax are just a few of the designer prefabs available.
Sizes and prices range from about $33,000 USD for an LV-Home kit by Missouri-based Rocio Romero to as much as a million dollars.
Prefab House - Photo © WHORANGE
Prefab Housing - Some Pros and Cons
Utilizing unused rooftops, unbuildable lots, or a good set of wheels, the new prefab house is a highly designed answer to the new transitory population, rising property prices, restrictive zoning, and environmental concerns. On-site construction waste is reduced and most prefabs include optional environmentally friendly features such as bamboo flooring, solar or hybrid power systems and recycled materials...appealing to mid-to-upper-class modernist types who don't want a developer house in the suburbs but can't find affordable modernist architect-designed dwellings or the place to build them.
While the level of design, quality of craftsmanship is extremely high their are still many obstacles to owning a prefab house...as with any relatively new concept there are problems associated in regards to zoning, etc. As many of these houses can be considered mobile they either be looked upon favourably or not, according to local building codes and regulations...however, in time these regulations will change. In some cases prefab housing can be built where traditional housing is not allowed by zoning laws. Therefore land that is considered unbuildable, and therefore inexpensive, can in fact become the site for one of these homes. In addition these houses are generally much easier to install on difficult or restricted sites once again taking advantage of land that otherwise would be considered unbuildable.
While the level of design, quality of craftsmanship is extremely high their are still many obstacles to owning a prefab house...as with any relatively new concept there are problems associated in regards to zoning, etc. As many of these houses can be considered mobile they either be looked upon favourably or not, according to local building codes and regulations...however, in time these regulations will change. In some cases prefab housing can be built where traditional housing is not allowed by zoning laws. Therefore land that is considered unbuildable, and therefore inexpensive, can in fact become the site for one of these homes. In addition these houses are generally much easier to install on difficult or restricted sites once again taking advantage of land that otherwise would be considered unbuildable.
Prefabricated Buildings on eBay
Prefab Housing - A Global Trend
Probably the country which is producing the most evolved, stylish and well designed new homes is Australia, with New Zealand following suit. This followed by the US and then most Northern European countries. In fact the first and most successful prefabricated houses where build in Scandinavia and in fact up to 90% of houses in Sweden are either prefabricated or modular structures. Clearly a country where wood construction is the norm is more adapt to accepting the relatively lightweight construction of prefab homes whereas in southern Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Italy and France, that are accustomed to building in stone or cement, only 5% of homes are prefab or modular. However this is rapidly changing as property prices soar.
In Eastern Europe and the UK, low quality and poorly planned housing developments gave prefab a bad name, but a variety of more successful prefab housing schemes have cropped up recently. IKEA has recently had a huge boom in selling their flat pack house BoKlok throughout northern Europe with various entire communities planned in the UK to help solve the ever increasing housing shortage. IKEA has brought to the market not only flatpack one and two-bedroom homes but also entire communities with modernist prefab houses and apartments. There are now 45 BoKlok (Live Smart) prefab communities in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. BoKlok homes are designed with Ikea's Scandinavian minimalist ethos but they're geared towards lower income families, particularly single-parent and so-called 'micro-families'.
In Eastern Europe and the UK, low quality and poorly planned housing developments gave prefab a bad name, but a variety of more successful prefab housing schemes have cropped up recently. IKEA has recently had a huge boom in selling their flat pack house BoKlok throughout northern Europe with various entire communities planned in the UK to help solve the ever increasing housing shortage. IKEA has brought to the market not only flatpack one and two-bedroom homes but also entire communities with modernist prefab houses and apartments. There are now 45 BoKlok (Live Smart) prefab communities in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. BoKlok homes are designed with Ikea's Scandinavian minimalist ethos but they're geared towards lower income families, particularly single-parent and so-called 'micro-families'.
Post War Prefab - Photo © Jon Bennett
The Future of Prefab Housing
The latest prefab and modular houses are now aiming for the wealthier market...not only because of the new demand but also because until these houses are mass produced costs are not that much cheaper than traditional housing...and in some cases more so. There's no question that mod prefabs tend to be too expensive even for the young, idealistic architects designing them but once this trend takes hold the costs of prefab housing should make them a viable alternative for those looking for a high level of design and flexibility in the housing market.
Books about Prefab Design
Read before you build!
Prefab Prototypes: Site-Specific Design for Offsite Construction by Mark Anderson
Prefabricated construction is a hot topic in architecture more...0 points
Prefab Modern by Jill Herbers
For many, the idea of prefab housing may bring to more...0 points
PreFab Now by James Grayson Trulove, Ray Cha
An in-depth look at state-of-the-art prefabricated more...0 points
Prefab by Bryan Burkhart, Allison Arieff
Prefab presents a series of innovative homes and c more...0 points
Contemporary Prefab Houses
Contemporary prefab design is on the rise, becomin more...0 points
PreFab Home by Michael Buchanan, Franklin Schmidt, Esther Schmidt
The Prefab Home looks at the emerging world of pre more...0 points
The Prefabricated Home by Colin Davies
From sash windows and ceramic tiles to barracks and more...0 points
New Prefab Architecture by Sergi Costa
This book presents examples of prefabricated architecture more...0 points
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Who is Blogging about Prefabs?
- Steel resurgence: Blue Sky building Palm Springs' first prefab homes since 1960s
- Blue Sky Building Systems is building the first prefabricated steel home in Palm Springs since architect Donald Wexler designed seven iconic steel structures for the Alexander Construction Company in the early 1960s. ?This is the first one we've built ...
- Green modular: Where there's a will there's a way
- By Sheila Brady, The Ottawa Citizen May 11, 2012 Michelle Kaufmann, the princess of building green, über-contemporary, modular homes is in Fiji, struggling with a slow Internet connection and losing her Wi-Fi access because it's starting to rain.
- Prefab Housing Entering Strong on the Ethiopian Market
- Addis Prefabricated Housing Manufacturing Industries SC, Ethiopia has sold 31.4 million birr in shares in just the three months exceeding its target capital goal of 29 million birr. The share company floated 29000 ordinary shares at a value of 1000 ...
- Gateshead WWII houses resurrected at Beamish Museum
- A block of houses built to re-home people after World War II is to be saved from demolition by moving to a new home at a museum. Airey houses were prefabricated homes constructed in great numbers at the end of the war as a temporary replacement for ...
Some Helpful Prefab Links
- BoKlok
- IKEA + prefab = BoKlok
- Alchemy Architects - weeHouse
- weeHouse
- itHouse
- itHouse
- up! house
- up!house the new way to go home!
- BachKit
- BachKit
- small, simple, modular, prefab, modern, solar, small home & house plans & design @ small house style
- Small House Style is a web magazine dedicated to all things small house & home, prefab, sustainable, design, architecture and modern.
- The Dwell Home
- Jennifer Siegal's Swellhouse was conceived in the belief that rethinking the power of prefab housing technologies can bring mass customization and individual choice together in an affordable and sustainable home that a great number of people could attain. The design
- Smartshax
- SmartShax
- Natural, Green & Eco Friendly Products like Furniture and Accessories Plus Informative Blog - ModernEcoHomes
- ModernEcoHomes offers a wide variety of natural, organic, green and eco friendly products including furniture, accessories, baby products and more.
- Modern House Designs - Tree Houses | Trendir
- Whimsical Wooden Tree House
- Tree House Designed by Standard : Burstoid
- News for designers, creative/art directors, illustrators, photographers, and all creative people.
- Very Cool Solar Homes - Photo Gallery - LIFE
- The solar-powered "FabLab House"; designed by the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Catalunya, is seen here at night on June 22, 2010, in Madrid, Spain.
Did you enjoy this lens? Please leave a comment before you go!
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prefab_homes
May 15, 2012 @ 2:09 pm | delete
- Nice lens!
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AllVirtualHelp1
Apr 19, 2012 @ 1:38 am | delete
- Very interesting and informative lens on prefab homes. These kind of homes has gained immense popularity because of the several benefits they offer.
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priscillaB Mar 27, 2012 @ 10:05 am | delete
- Interesting. I used to think this kind of home was boring but I see I was wrong.
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TTMall
Mar 23, 2012 @ 5:39 pm | delete
- Thank you for such an informative lens.
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COUNTRYLUTHIER
Mar 8, 2012 @ 8:09 pm | delete
- Great lens. I enjoy reading about modular, tiny and my personal fave these days, homes built from shipping containers. Great job and hope to see more like this. Sent a Angel blessing winging your way.
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Creative Commons Photo Credits
- Rocio Romero prefab house on Flickr - WHORANGE
- Blogged on WHORANGE on march 17, 2008
- Prefab house on Flickr - WHORANGE
- Blogged on WHORANGE on march 17, 2008
- Post War Prefabs on Flickr - Jon Bennett
- Post War Prefabs. The Excalibur Estate, Catford, South East London
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by Debs
Web designer, Elvis fan and sometime poet. I live in Rome, Italy and blog about the city and enjoy photographing its lesser known corners. A keen collector... more »
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