If you’ve ever purchased ready-to-assemble furniture at IKEA or if you’ve put together toys on Christmas Eve you have been involved with prefabricated products. 

Prefab construction is here, and it’s happening. The combination of a severe labor shortage and extreme shortfalls in housing supply is driving a renewed interest in prefabricated construction as a more cost-efficient alternative to traditional building.

Transcend Communities are net zero, all-electric, healthy, resilient, connected, solar-powered, and cost-effective homes located in mixed-use communities — and an in-floor radiant system that will heat and cool both air and water is pivotal to this.

With a focus on minimal site impact and environmental protection, the Darwin Bucky project sets a standard for sustainable modular architecture. [...]

Designed by Estudio Guto Requena, the Dolce Gusto Neo Flagship store is a temporary commercial space located in a public park in São Paulo, Brazil. The project was created for the launch of Nescafé's Dolce Gusto "Neo" coffee machines and pods, which feature recycled ocean plastics and biodegradable capsules.[...]

From Czech architect Marek Štěpán comes Freedomky, a stylish prefab retreat that's affordable, easy to install and — thanks to an optional 'independence'

The Miami Herald profiles Cabin Fever, a Little Haiti-based prefab firm specializing in versatile and affordable micro-dwellings that have a growing fanbase acr

With Sonoma County in the bag, affordable prefab builder Blu Homes unveils its first project in Southern California: a remote, low-impact desert retreat owned b

From prefab powerhouse Blu Homes comes the company's eighth and largest design: A spacious, two-story take on Michelle Kaufmann's pioneering prefab, the Breezeh

Aiming to help eradicate the 'performance dinosaur' otherwise known as the standard American home, Bensonwood launches an affordable green prefab offshoot dubbe

As construction begins on a 32-story prefab tower here in the U.S., Broad Sustainable Building Corp. is preparing for a similar project in China that will resul

Architect Zaha Hadid is "touring around" a prefab concept with musician/design dabbler extraordinaire Pharrell Williams.

Blu Homes celebrates the East Coast debut of the iconic Breezehouse with an open house weekend in New York's Hudson Valley region.

Two Ontario firms team up to create a charming sleeping cottage concept that's more akin to a giant piece of furniture than an actual small-scale structure.

Perched above Mexico City's trendiest shopping district, the Billboard House is obscured by a mural created by the dwelling's artist-in-residence.

Garrison Architects creates a series of green modular structures to grace NYC's Sandy-ravaged beaches by Memorial Day.

This weekend: Model homes have a moment (thanks, Netflix!) and Portland maintains its status as the nation's largest fluoride-free city.

Philippe Starck unveils a line of energy-efficient prefab homes with European wood builder Riko.

Check out this video of NYC's first prefab residential building coming to life over a 4-week span in Manhattan's Inwood section.

Madrid-based sustainable architecture firm Ábaton unveils a low-cost prefab housing concept that's as simple as it gets (and interestingly, hypoallergenic).

Airbnb celebrates its presence in L.A. with a city-wide 'hospitality experience' revolving around prefab studios with celebrity-designed interiors.

Design studio Minarc partners with Habitat for Humanity to (very quickly) bring affordable, net-zero energy prefab homes to low-income areas of South L.A.

Blu Homes tackles the suburbs with Balance Metro, a new take on a 3-bedroom design that's geared for infill lots.

Blue Homes' view-ready Balance prefab finds a most appropriate home on the ancestral stomping grounds of Frank Lloyd Wright in Wisconsin.

The gorgeously illustrated "Prefabulous World" highlights some of the most cutting-edge, eco-friendly modular homes in the world.

In the bucolic exburbs of New York City, a mass-produced home designed by the legendary architect hits the market.

From Vo Tong Nghia Architects comes a finish-it-yourself dwelling that can be delivered throughout the Mekong Delta via long-tail boat.

In Japan, militantly unfussy retailer Muji sells much more than stationery, travel pillows and slippers.

Sleek, slender and topped with solar panels, Heijmans ONE is a rental unit that addresses the dearth of affordable housing options for young professionals.

Vipp, the venerable purveyor of high-end trash bins, gets into the prefab vacation home business.

Shoppers went gaga for 'Leisurama' vacation homes showcased on the department store's ninth floor in the early 1960s.

Attractive but not arresting in appearance, the Paradigm series of green prefabs from Seattle's Method Homes has the potential to achieve recognition from the w

In observation of one of the original New Urbanist-style planned communities' 75th anniversary, Norris, Tenn. gets a self-sufficient prefab demo home.

With its edible veggie walls and lack of traditional HVAC systems, Carbon Positive House aims to "free us of modern day lifelines."

Sky City was supposed to be 220 stories and this building was supposed to be 97 stories; but there's more to building than just technical innovation.

Why have inmates manufacture license plates when they can help put an end to a housing crisis?

Deluxe's modular hospital units can be delivered in half the time of conventional construction.

An improved set of toy building or construction blocks, each block having a substantially square cross-section and a generally rectilinear configuration. Incorporated into the structure of the individual toy blocks are transversely oriented slots, grooves and protrusions of predetermined size and location. The slots, grooves and protrusions of pre-determined size and location are of either male or female configuration disposed medially along one or more plane of each block. When the male protrusion of one block is introduced perpendicular to the female slot of one end of another block, a frictional engagement is created resulting in a right angle. When the male protrusion of one block is introduced to the female slot in a linear fashion the result is a line segment. Joining a plurality of said toy building or construction blocks using various perpendicular connections in conjunction with linear connections results in the stable formation of construction or geometric structures without the use of fasteners or other connecting elements.

Anchor positioning equipment for pre-fabricating panels of reinforced cement mortar (10) that includes a prestressed biaxial reinforcement (9). The panel has some versatile actuator means (6) embedded into the mass of cement mortar (10), that do not project from any of the faces (11) thereof, for handling and/or securing said panel to the structure of a building. The means (6) comprise, on the one hand, means for retaining (13) in the set mortar mass and, panel anchoring means (14). The equipment has a fixed base structure (2) for supporting stable seat elastic arrangements (5), which receive means (6) and, on the other hand, movable frameworks (1) comprising gripping arrangements (3) for gripping means (6). Movable frameworks (1) are responsible for removing means (6) from stable seat elastic arrangements (5).

A prefabricated wall panel includes molds for casting reinforced concrete (RC) elements. The prefabricated wall panel includes foam boards, foam glass panels fixed to the foam boards, fabric mesh fixed to the foam glass panels, wire mesh fixed to the fabric mesh, and an exterior wall finish fixed to the wire mesh. Spaces defined by the foam boards and the foam glass panels form the molds for casting RC columns and beams.

The invention relates to a prefabricated construction element (1) having a permanent form, such as a longitudinal beam or a panel, consisting of two parallel plates that are formed, through molding and spaced apart from each other, from a hydraulic mixture such as concrete and from a built-in metal reinforcement, said plates being separated by an insulating block and connected together by transverse spacers (not shown), characterized in that said construction element (1) comprises consecutive prepositioning and bottom (6, 7) and/or top (8, 9) linking means, said bottom means (6, 7) consisting of a metal male connector (6) secured to the metal reinforcement of a first element (1) and arranged at the end of the bottom portion of said first element, and a metal female connector (7) secured to said metal reinforcement of a consecutive second element and arranged at the end of the bottom portion of said second element, the relative positioning of the male connector (6) and female connector (7) being such that said connectors can be connected together when the two consecutive elements (1) are assembled.

Set into the lush green landscape of Denmark's Fyn island, Villa Korup is a large home designed for a family of six. A collaboration between Danish architect Jan Henrik Jansen and Australian architect Marshall Blecher, Villa Korup, which features three elongated "wings", was prefabricated offsite using weathered steel and CLT panels.[...]

In the Indonesian city of Semarang, international architecture firm SHAU has completed Microlibrary Warak Kayu, an inspiring new public space that raises the bar for community design and sustainable architecture. Prefabricated with only FSC-certified timber, the new neighborhood icon is the fifth built project in the Microlibrary series, an initiative to encourage reading in low-income areas by creating "socially performative multifunctional community spaces with environmentally conscious designs and materials." In addition to the exclusive use of sustainably grown and logged timbers, the project is the first library in Indonesia made entirely of FSC-certified wood. The Microlibrary Warak Kayu is also[...]

High-end luxury meets energy efficiency in the Jesolo Lido Pool Villa, a 320-square-meter Venetian villa in the Italian seaside resort of Jesolo. Designed by Milan-based architecture firm JMA, the holiday home was prefabricated, installed and furnished in just six months. The high-performance building envelope has been engineered to guarantee near net-zero energy usage throughout the year.[...]

Perched atop a hill in Aosta Valley’s highest municipality in northwest Italy is the newly completed House in Chamois, a modern, prefabricated home by Torino-based design and build firm Leap Factory. As with all “Leap Houses,” the home’s entire design and construction process was managed by the Leap Factory team and was constructed with a modular system built of natural, recyclable materials to allow for maximum flexibility. All of the components provided by Leap Factory for the House in Chamois were also designed and produced in Italy. [...]

Belgian firm Atelier Vens Vanbelle has created a stunning guest home for a client who works in the film industry. Located in the Uitbergen region of East Flanders, the Alex Guesthouse boasts an eye-catching design comprised of a unique curved volume made out of prefabricated timber and clad in corten steel.[...]

We have seen this movie before.

The differences between the new prefabs by Philippe Starck for RIKO and the Bright Built Homes are instructive.

Marrying the traditional material of bamboo with modern engineering, this impressive sports hall in Thailand was constructed without steel reinforcements or connections.

This compact shelter is a place for a family to spend their summers in the middle of nature.