Well, that sure didn’t last long. Just 8 days after talking about not being able to find worthwhile prefab houses to cover, the new issue of Dwell shows up in the mailbox with a little story about “EcoHats” and a prefab development in London called Oxley Woods. This is a pretty big community made up of panelized structures that are built off-site, transported, filled with recycled-paper insulation, and put together in about seven days. Not bad, huh? Especially not for about $121,000 U.S. dollars!

The buildings vary in size from 700 to 1,615 square feet and can have as many as 5 bedrooms. To minimize expenses and to help the homes run more efficiently, all service areas (kitchen, bath, etc) are standard and centrally located in each model. The picture above is of the entire development.

The best part of these homes is the EcoHat that each one has, which is a solar array that is hidden in a box atop each home. The solar panels in the boxes heats air and sends it into the house for heating the home, or it can be used to heat hot water. That surely solves the “I think solar is ugly” argument.

Check out the Oxley Woods development for more info on the houses.

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This year, I have written about 26 different prefab and/or pre-designed “green” housing options. They range from the small home office/one room house to the multimillion dollar home in the middle of the desert. Because this is the last Prefab Wednesday of 2007, I wanted to take a look back through the houses covered this year and let you all know that I will probably not be doing this every Wednesday anymore because I am running out of worthwhile homes to cover each week. When I do come across a worthwhile addition to the list, I will surely write about it, but for now, this is the final Prefab Wednesday post. Enjoy.

The Breezehouse by MKD

6040 House By Gregory La Vardera

The Living Home by Ray Kappe.

The LV Series by Rocio Romero.

The Office of Mobile Design.

The Cube 5 from h-Haus.

The mkLotus by MKD.

The IT house from Taalman-Koch.

Construction of a Res4 Prefab.

Marmol Radziner.

The Weehouse by Alchemy Architects.

The Place House by Heather Johnston.

The Jot House by Yeh Jerrard LLC.

The Noble Home by Jasonoah.

The Quik House by Adam Kalkin.

The m House by Tim Pyne.

The Jeriko House.

The 0367 Porch House by Gregory La Vardera.

Video of the Marmol Radziner Factory.

The Boklok Housing Concept.

The mkLoft by MKD.

The Modern Cabana.

The k3 from kithaus.

The Zerohouse.

The ZenKaya.

The Modhouse by Prebuilt.

If you know of any cool prefabs or you are a builder/architect, please feel free to contact me with information so I be sure to cover them in 2008!

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“The Prebuilt Mod House Range is for those who like their homes clean and crisp with a modernist edge. These finely detailed, timber clad pavilions are based on a modular system offering the ultimate in flexibility.” So says Prebuilt, who has several different kinds of prefab houses available…in Australia. The prices range from a 2 bedroom for $147,000 up to a 4 bedroom for $270,000.

The company minimizes their impact on the environment by arranging for almost complete waste reduction during construction. They also work with the homeowners to promote passive solar arrangements of the houses, and they use low-VOC pains, efficient lighting, and recycled timber when possible.

Check them out at Prebuilt

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Ranging in size from the Zenkaya Studio (20.4 sq. meters) all the way up to the ZenKaya Two Bedrooms (61.2 sq. meter) units, the ZenKaya offers a couple of different options for people with varying prefab needs. Once you order whatever you need, the home can be delivered in as little as 5 weeks, depending on what you wanted in your design. The come completely assembled, and all the owner would have to do is hook up the electric, the water and the sewer, and their home is ready to go.

As for being green, all the materials used in construction can be recycled when necessary, which is pretty cool.

So where is the company located? That’s the problem - unless you live in South Africa. Now why can’t someone a little bit closer to home come up with such a great solution for the masses?

For more info, check out ZenKaya.

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Holy Moly Batman…a house that powers itself, composts its own waste, collects its own water, and is completely automatic doing all of these things. When can I get one? Maybe if it is ever made I can get on the list, but for now, the zeroHouse looks to be just a great idea.

The solar panels produce all the power for the house and store enough juice in the batteries that the house can be powered for a week without sunlight. A worthwhile goal and one that I think we might eventually see in real life scenarios.

The plumbing is all gravity-fed from the cistern, so there are no pumps to run - which means less electricity use. And all the waste gets composted under the house rather than fed to a sewer or septic tank, which provides for great fertilizer for any gardens you might have.

The zeroHouse is designed with 2 bedrooms and one bathroom, all the cabinets and furniture is built-in to save space, and all the lighting is LED lighting, which uses way less electricity than CFL’s or incandescents bulbs. Hopefully this house will actually be built, for for now it is nice to dream. Check it out over at zeroHouse.

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Looking for a cool and simple home office you can put out back? This might be the thing for you. The K3 from kitHAUS ships flat to your door and you can assemble it in 2 days. At 117 square feet, it won’t fit your family of 4, but it will provide a great office or playroom - and probably without the need of building permits.

You can also combine several units rather easily, if you are in need of a bigger space. There are different modules with different layouts to meet whatever needs you have. The K3 unit itself is $44,000, but there are smaller and 1 bigger unit (the K4) available as well.

Each unit comes with an aluminum frame, insulated walls, floor, ceiling, exterior cladding, water proof membrane, sub-flooring and double-glazed windows/sliding doors. They have a 6-12 week lead time depending on your order and the orders ahead of you.

Overall, I would say these are pretty cool. Although expensive just for a home office, they do look pretty nice and I would be more than happy to work in one! For more info, check out kitHAUS.

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