At the last London Pecha Kucha event, Youmeheshe architects presented their small but tall ‘organic house’ — a wood pre-fab prototype that was Youmeheshe’s answer to a British-government challenge last year for architects to design an affordable house for under £60,000.
This bio-fueled, wood-clad house that “touches the ground lightly” has been used in Byron Park, Harrow, London, and a wood architecture competition. The design uses a kit of parts – for example a level could be a whole floor or a loft depending on the size of the household – to assemble a house floor-by-floor. The highest models were of a 4 room, 4 story house. The house was conceived with the densely populated city in mind – it would not be unfathomable to build an entire row of houses or a whole London neighbourhood (the UK has a density minimum of 30 dwellings per hectare) using the organic prefab house.
Apparently production on these babies has already begun in southeast London.
+Youmeheshe
This looks like wooden brutalism, we have enough concrete monstrosities of this era in design blighting the landscape of the UK. Slab sides with a wood effect does not make a good or asthetic design. Back to the drwaing board guys!
What architectural package (if that’s what it is) has all these pieces of weird clip art? I mean the half naked girl here covering herself up; on other prefab sites, I’ve seen Masai tribespeople, hipster grandparents, and even something that reminded me of a mind flayer from Dungeons and Dragons!
This “thing” ar they warmed up 90% by sunlight?
Eartquake Safe? It´s lucks like house made of playing cards.
Are they Safe for Burning?
Can they float if flood?
What is the meaning with this?
Architect Leo Mac Ender
Great! Finally an affordable prefab house which does not look like a fake english wannabe castle or a boring modernist cube with fake brick cladding on the outside. How can the facade be varied? It looks like there is finally a prefab which can be individualised to the client’s desires, and even more it is an organic house. Well done I have to say!
Isn’t the Eames too expensive for this house?
Why is it that the best we can do is create a more affordable, modern version of the suburban, auto-dominated cultural wasteland. It’s no longer enough to solve the equation for one variable only. Every act of building has to be fully considered, given the environmental investment of resources.
Delightful. There is always mock Victorian or whatever for the dissenters.
This is perhaps the most intelligent option I’ve seen when it comes to resolving the low-cost initiative. That is that is attempts to resolve the problem through design eliminating what may be required due to style or mores, instead with simple aesthetic motions. I am however not entirely convinced of the interior and the how the pieces fit together but this treat seems to genuinely resolve cost issues.
architect dc [estudio C'spora, West Indies]
I’m curious on the cost per foot of these units? What type of seismic and wind ratings could they achieve? I wonder if the structural material could be changed to steel, such as light gauge C channel red iron?
Is there an idea of the construction time, and what quantities could be produced?
fantástica. Quiero una!!!