UOZU LOVES:PREFABRICATED HOUSES BY MUJI & KODASEMA

A beautiful small house tucked away in the middle of nature is almost a utopian dream for contemporary city dwellers. And there’s some good news about it: the trend of prefabricated houses means there are more and more choices available, and more and more architecture studios and lifestyle brands having a go in this direction.

One example is the Japanese brand Muji, which has unveiled its plan for a compact nine square-metre prefabricated house made of Japanese wood and showcasing the signature style of the brand. The simple cabin is intended to be a sort of holiday home, and to suit a variety of different locations. It features sliding glass doors and an outdoor patio which make it blend seamlessly with the surroundings.

A similar project is Koda, a tiny prefabricated house designed by the Estonian studio Kodasema and presented at this year’s architecture biennale in Tallinn. It is literally a modular house which was designed to make it possible to assemble and disassemble it several times. Its 25 square-meters are optimized to fit a tiny living room and kitchen, a bathroom, and a bedroom on an elevated mezzanine. It’s both versatile and energy-efficient, with solar panels on the rooftop providing, and also storing, a high quantity of energy.