The prefab WingHouse is a promising design which provides quick shelter that looks to be also quite durable. Unfolding from a shipping container sized box, the building becomes nearly three times the shipping size in just five hours of set up time. The finished product does not look temporary one bit—the multiple configurations can make for a small home, dorms, or office space out of the open 80 square meters.
The main design principle of the WingHouse is relatively simple. Because they come in the standard shipping container size they are easily transportable and do not need a crane to set down. The walls of the container sized unit rise up like wings (hence the name), with a built-in crane to create a large butterfly roof– this little movie shows how it is done (the design is similar to how the new Glide House unfolds onsite). Tucked behind are a pair of floors which fold down onto a foundation which is not much more than cement blocks. Panels are inset between the roof and floor with built-in windows and doors.
The result is a large interior space which can be finished in multiple ways. Because there are no internal supports, a home with a large open floor plan can accommodate three bedrooms. Other floor plans include a four to eight bedroom dorm, an office space or just a simple meeting room. The finished units comes wired and plumbed with built-in cabinets. The butterfly roof and horizontal sections to the panels add a clear contemporary style, letting visitors know this is not the same old portable.
