This dreamy, glass bedroom by the lake was created as an early prototype for the prefabricated greenhouse/she kits known as the Kekkilä Green Sheds.

Helsinki architect Ville Hara and designer Linda Bergroth collaborated on a prefab shed-meets-sleeping cabin, which can be assembled with little else than a screwdriver. Bergroth, inspired by nomadic yurt dwellers, wanted an indoor/outdoor experience for her property in Finland.

Architect Oliver Lang and his partner, Cindy Wilson, created Monad, a multiunit prefab prototype in Vancouver.

The addition’s beveled cedar siding will eventually weather to match the existing shakes, “but it’s different enough to distinguish the two,” says Wibowo. “The window frames and metal roof color also match the dark bronze aluminum of the existing house, so it all blends."

The wood shed portion artfully encapsulates all the domestic detritus that would be anathema within the all-glass sleeping portion.

With little to no permitting required because of its small size, Sett Studio units can be used for an extra bedroom, a yoga studio, a hydroponics growing area or an office space, like this 96-square-foot one shown here.

Clad in Western red cedar siding and punctuated with floor-to-ceiling windows, this minimalist two-bedroom home boasts sunrise views over the Sonoma hills.

Architect Jesse Garlick’s rural Washington vacation home references its rugged surroundings. The steel cladding has developed a patina similar to the ochre-red color of bedrock found in the area.

Simpatico Homes founder Seth Krubiner has lived in the prefab company’s nearly net-zero prototype since it was customized and lifted onsite in 2011.

A narrow building next to the main structure houses storage and an outdoor kitchen.

Heating for the unit is provided by a Spartherm fireplace, with electric heating integrated into the magnesite floor. Walls are insulated with fire-tested wool felt under plywood panels.

The L-shaped secondary building perches over a craggy escarpment. It offers the best vantage point for taking in the moss-planted roof, forest, and ocean.

Floor-to-ceiling windows allow for an intimate connection with outdoor spaces.

It takes three to five days to install a Vipp Shelter onsite.

The collection combines influences from modernism and the Arts and Crafts movement. The Cedar & Moss pendants with a brushed satin finish are shown here.

NOEM, a Barcelona–based architecture firm, created a metal-clad house for a young client just outside Madrid. It’s raised 12 feet off the ground to offer better views of the landscape, lending it "the futuristic feeling that it just landed," says Pol Guiu, one of NOEM’s cofounders.

Wheelhaus founder and CEO Jamie Mackay creates prefabs with the same quality and durability of the log cabins he grew up with, while also incorporating his values of green production and modern design. Although it takes about four months to construct his prefabricated properties, it takes about a week for the home to be delivered, and then three to five days for the house to be set up on site.

All of Scott Palamar’s selections and customizations brought the total to $150,000 for the 640-square-foot home and surrounding land. “I feel like I struck on such a novel solution because I was able to afford a home tailored to my lifestyle,” he says.

The Mikado 2 sofa by Hans Hopfer for Roche Bobois is a bright and cheery centerpiece in the otherwise sedate living room. The nubby wool Photon rug from Design Within Reach warms up the expanse of concrete. The framed drawing is by the Los Angeles–based artist Daniel Brice. Huge sliding doors open the house to the outdoors and virtually double the Burtons' living space.

Pacific Northwest: 2.ink Studio Oregon wood sorrel offers ground cover. “The lushness of our native landscape is really the most captivating aspect of our region,” Beaver says. “Because we get so much rain, that can become an integral dimension of our designs.”

The master bath contains all functions in the white fiberglass panel that runs the length of the wall. Lazor designed the vanity; the tub is by Duravit.

Photo by Patrick Barta

This 3,200-square-foot structure was assembled with a prefabricated foundation, concrete panel siding, and efficient built-ins, minimizing construction debris and toxins—such as concrete foundation tar—on the site.

Six-inch-square blue tiles cover the walls and floor of the girls’ upstairs bathroom. The towels and rug are also by H&M Home.

"How would a kid draw a house?" architect Per Franson asked himself when designing the Olivero-Reinius family home. The simple prefab structure’s unusual color comes from a traditional source: falu rödfärg, the historic mineral paint that gives the region’s famous barns their red color.

The inspiration for this prefabricated, modular family home on Fishers Island, New York, were the views that Tanney and Luntz saw from a 12-foot stepladder, which was balancing on the bed of a pickup truck when they first visited the site.

Hexagonal tiles made by the Portland Cement Company continue the pattern in the bathroom, where the architect designed low drawers and cabinets that are easy for Luna to reach.

Pacific Northwest: 2.ink Studio A respected wine-growing region, the Willamette Valley is known for its mild and wet weather. For a house overlooking a steep ravine in Portland, Oregon, landscape architects Melinda Graham and Jonathan Beaver of 2.ink Studio sourced hyperlocal plants from the Valley. Bracken, sword, and deer ferns border the concrete-and-stone retaining walls and the walkway lined with Preto Carvaõ Basalt and brushed stainless steel.

Prefab house in Muskö, Sweden

Many prefab architects and suppliers specialize in either modular or panelized construction. Minneapolis architect Charlie Lazor has worked with both mediums. This lake house in rural Ontario, Canada, is an example of one of his modular projects. It was built in a Wisconsin factory about 400 miles away.

The Outward Bound cabins, designed by the University of Colorado Denver's design-build program, have steel frames that lift the structures above a three-foot snowpack while supporting corrugated-steel "snow roofs."

Multi-discipli­nary Swedish firm Claesson Koivisto Rune created the plans for this home for design-minded kit-house manu­fact­urer Arkitektus. Considering the unique balance of the facade, as well as its climate-specific construction—the asymmetrical "lifted" roof allows for both water drainage and maximum light during the dark winter months—Claesson Koivisto Rune’s approach to the project is some­what surprising. "We design buildings from the inside out," explains principal Eero Koivisto. "The exterior is more or less a product of the interior plans."

“The house’s narrow footprint works for us in terms of maximum exposure to the lake,” says Gibbs (shown here with son Blake and dog Max on the shore of Lake Iosco). Glass walls and doors by Andersen also mean that Gibbs can keep a close eye on Blake when he’s playing in the yard. A plinth of reused bedrock found on the property has become an unintended place for active play.

A Simple Plan A Marmol Radziner–designed prefab house, trucked onto a remote Northern California site, takes the pain out of the construction process.

Suzanne and Brooks Kelley at the back of their 1,100-square-foot guest cottage.