Prefabs Can Look Unnatural. This One in Brazil Is Meant to Shift That Perception

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Location: Ibiúna, Brazil

Architect: Ohtake / @__ohtake

Footprint: 1,938 square feet

Builder: Syshaus

Structural and Civil Engineer: Syshaus

Landscape Design: Ricardo Cardim and Studio Teto Jardim

Lighting Design: Fas

Interior Design: Ohtake

Photographer: Filippo Bamberghi

From the Architect: "Rodrigo Ohtake’s latest project is a modular, ecological holiday home for his family in Ibiúna, a rural town an hour and half far from São Paulo. Ohtake’s family uses it to get away from city life, to relax after a busy week and for the children to get in contact with nature. The challenge was to design a house that didn’t look like a prefabricated modular house, without deviating from the original modular concept. The main motivation that led him to embark on this project was the possibility of providing quality and affordable housing.

"His design is constituted as an interaction between shapes, volumes, colors and the area in which these projects are scaled, producing unique manifestations. These qualities may prove their worth on a daily basis, but when paired with a sense of mass production and celerity, they tend to put this relationship to the test. The presented solution consists of several prefabricated modules that act as a living room, dining room, and kitchen.

"Being made exclusively out of metallic parts, glass, and material that can be easily transported, the house itself was prefabricated and assembled on-site. This minimized waste, preserving the area’s flora and fauna. Furthermore, the project is thermally efficient, keeping the interiors at a comfortable temperature and preventing the need of an air conditioner. The house was built in just 30 days."

"Furthermore, the manner in which the house is built, with the void between the modular areas, allows customization beyond just the colors of the walls or the aspect of the floor, according to each user’s preferences and behaviors. For the exterior walls, this owner chose a thermo-insulated industrial wall covered with an aluminum panel. The curved blue exterior walls are made of perforated steel sheet. They are meant to break up the rectangular format of the bedroom modules, give privacy to the rooms. Most of the furniture was made by Ohtake. His wife, an art curator, selected all the artwork in the house."