#prefabrication

#prefabrication

The Hungarian studio Hello Wood has unveiled something extraordinary in the world of prefabricated architecture. The PEBL Grand represents four years of meticulous development, resulting in a sculptural cabin that challenges everything we know about portable living spaces. This isn't your typical tiny house. The angular, faceted design language creates a structure that appears almost alien against natural landscapes, yet integrates seamlessly through its clever use of materials and finishes. The low-poly aesthetic draws inspiration from digital design, translated into physical form through precision CNC cutting of cross-laminated timber panels.

Text description provided by the architects. The project is based on total prefabrication in reinforced concrete. Modular panels make up all the building elements: facades, roofs and interior partitions. The typification of elements made it possible to speed up and simplify the construction, while emphasising the building's image.

The Softshell is constructed from a timber frame clad in canvas panels, its sharply pitched form recalling a familiar A-frame cabin. The canvas outer is made from a cotton-polyester blend, and comes in khaki, dark green, or navy colorways. Inside, the modular, hybrid structure offers a kitchenette, bathroom, window, and sitting area, while the verticality of the frame makes space for a hammock-like sleeping loft suspended in netting.

The company that makes them, Reframe, is the latest outfit chasing the construction sector's forever dream, in which buildings are assembled in factories like computers or cars, saving time and money in a field that everyone agrees requires too much of both. The technical name for this practice is modular construction, which has at times seemed as if it is the undisputed technology of the future.

The Modular BV system redefines prefabricated housing, merging engineered precision with climate-smart design, producing homes that adapt seamlessly to their environments.

"Take your pleasure seriously," Charles and Ray Eames famously said in reference to cinema, culture, design, and, of course, architecture.