Oh, the prefab house. Sometimes cruelly regarded as a cheap, dare I say tacky, solution for critical housing requirements, it is redefined in this book as an evolving form of housing that has become “ambitious and sophisticated.”
The Ikea of housing, the prefab has an amazing history, beginning here in Australia when English emigrants were given building kits in the 1830s in an attempt to help them settle effortlessly in this sunburnt country. But as the book shows, today’s prefab houses can be found all over the world in all shapes and sizes. Some resemble alien spaceships and A-frame country cottages, while others are simple boxes perched on Swiss hillsides. Whatever their style, these houses are an old favourite for their ease and newfound style.
Arnt Cobbers and Oliver Jahn, (Taschen, 2010), pp 388, rrp $130.00.
Publication: ARCHITECTUREAU
