The Most Impressive Prefab Homes of 2024
From a solar-powered floating home that putters through Dutch canals to a rainforest retreat with an oculus, here are the year’s standout prefabs.
Prefab homes have come a long way from the sterile, cookie-cutter prototypes of yore. This year’s best-in-class prefabs show how the construction style is continuing to break new ground, at times blending with traditional building methods to create sophisticated homes, popping up as unexpected housing types, and providing an effective solution for building on some of the trickiest terrain. Here are the prefab projects that wowed us in 2024.
Kicked Out of a Rental, This L.A. Couple Bought, and Then Built the Best ADU They Could
Niki Weber and J.P. Guiseppi were booted from their rental in Venice, California, with only a month’s notice. In the frantic search that followed, the pair bought the first property they visited: a hillside residence in the Silver Lake neighborhood of L.A. The plot had enough space downslope to install an ADU. Putting their hard years of renting to good effect, the pair hired Cover, a Los Angeles-based start-up specializing in prefab backyard homes, to build the rental they wish they had lived in as tenants.
Photo by Manolo Langis
Cover surveyed the property and presented the Niki and J.P. with a few workable layouts. The pair chose a 720-square-foot, two-bed, two-bath model with a full kitchen, wraparound porch, and floor-to-ceiling windows that provided views over downtown L.A. "If we were going to rent it, we wanted to make it a place we’d love to live in," says Niki. "It wasn’t about what’s the cheapest thing."
Photo by Manolo Langis
Stay up to Date on the Latest in Prefab Homes
From cozy cottages to large family houses, see how prefab continues to redefine the future of construction, building, and design.
After building a globe-trotting career in the fashion industry, Julie Park wanted to build a sanctuary where she could escape from L.A. on weekends and reconnect with her family. They visited the Mojave Desert, fell in love with their rental, and resolved to construct their retreat in the area. It took the family three years to save up enough money for the plot they had dreamt of—somewhere with enough terrain to afford privacy that was not too remote—just outside the town of Yucca Valley.
Photo by John Park
Julie designed the home herself using SketchUp based on the lightweight steel framing prefabricated by Blue Sky Building Systems. But the home still needed a roof, and the unique way it stepped down from one corner of the home meant that not just any roof would do. The prefab builder put Julie in touch with architect Andrew Goodwin. His bespoke roof "fold," as he would later describe it to us, helped bring her vision to life.
Photo by John Park
As Nicolás Tovo and Teresa Sarmiento of La Base embraced modular design as part of their architectural practice, they noticed that prospective clients were wary of prefabricated construction. So the duo teamed up with Place, an Argentine prefab builder, to construct a proof of concept just outside the Patagonian resort town of Bariloche.
Photo by Cristóbal Palma
The whole project comprised only three months of design, two months of production (some 90 percent of which was completed at a Buenos Aires factory), one day of assembly, and five days of adjustments. The structure consists of just four 9-foot-8-inch-by-19-foot-7-inch modules supported by a foundation plate. "If we want to move it, we can," says Teresa. "We could get a crane and disassemble it and then reassemble it on the coast."
Photo by Cristóbal Palma
Studio Dot founder Steele Olney and builder Evan Graham often found themselves discussing the future of building in Australia’s changing climate during their collaborations on custom projects. Eventually those conversations evolved into the Passive Studio: a purchasable dwelling that incorporates the duo’s extensive knowledge on Passive House design principles and prefab construction.
Photo by Alex McIntyre
The home’s highly insulating building envelope and mechanically operated ventilation system "can reduce the need for heating and cooling by 90 percent," Steele says of the design’s energy efficiency. The joinery and appliances—both customizable during the design phase—are installed during construction, helping to ensure that the 269 square feet doesn’t feel cramped.
Photo by Alex McIntyre
Konga has established an extensive portfolio of Scandinavian-inspired prefab cabins that immerse their occupants in nature. While its latest design retains the builder’s emphasis on environmental sustainability and balancing luxury with minimalism, the Konga Float is the first to move out from forested outposts and onto the water.
Photo courtesy of Konga
The off-grid, solar-powered floating home spans 430 square feet and accommodates up to four people. Konga offers to dock the units along its private island on a Frisian lake, a municipal mooring site nearby, or the company’s own private harbor. The 20-kilowatt battery pack (with an additional 10 kilowatts purchasable as an add on) supplies energy to the entire home, as well as the boat’s electric motor.
Photo courtesy of Konga
"Unfinished House is a two bedroom, two bathroom 1,400 square foot home in Canada that is a prototype for panelized prefabricated construction with a high-performance envelope," says Workshop Architecture. "Panelized prefab means that instead of being framed on site, the house comes flat-packed on a truck, a jigsaw puzzle of 8-to-16 foot-wide pieces that have the structure, insulation, and vapor barrier all pre-assembled."
Photo by Scott Norsworthy
"The name ‘Unfinished House’ refers to an aesthetic attitude... self-finishing materials were selected to reduce resources and reveal the building’s construction. Tile and plywood are the only added finishes; they cover areas with wiring and plumbing," the architects tell us. "The building is an all-timber structure with cellulose and wood fiber board insulation. Many of the materials were locally-produced including the wood framing, plywood, corrugated metal, and wood cladding."
Photo by Scott Norsworthy
In 2020, van Schaik founded SuperLA, a design and development startup seeking to redefine how we build homes. They create repeatable designs for multifamily buildings constructed with a prefabricated, panelized system made of cross-laminated timber (CLT). The system seeks to prioritize occupant and planetary health, says van Schaik, as well as design and construction efficiencies.
Photo by Madeline Tolle
SuperLA’s first housing development is an apartment complex in L.A.’s Silver Lake neighborhood called SuperBungalows. "The building’s design is a modern take on bungalow court homes that incorporates what makes these designs great," Schaik tells us. "The homes have no shared walls, feature large private terraces, multiple communal gardens, open-air walkways and stairs, and a ridiculous amount of light and air."
Photo by Madeline Tolle
Candour is a prefab building system and a tool to customize building components within that system—including walls, floors, facades, and roofs—with a proprietary CAD plug-in. Users of the software can draft a design, determine if it’s feasible, and price it out all in one day. Designs are built at Candour’s manufacturing facility in Sunshine, Melbourne.
Photo by Pier Carthew
The Australian architecture firm Archier workshopped Candour by designing the Taroona House: a two-bedroom, two-bathroom plan with a detached art studio that uses a lightweight timber structure as its framing and is encompassed by floor-to-ceiling glass walls. With a fully realized platform in place, Taroona House was succeeded by Yandoit House (pictured above)—the first fully prefabricated home using Candour’s design software, prefab system, and manufacturing facility.
Photo by Pier Carthew
When the residents of Sinfonía Verde bought their property in 2002, they had expected to spend most of their time on the beach. But the land changed in the twenty years since the initial purchase, and—drawn to the sounds of the regenerating rainforest—they found themselves spending more and more time inland. They asked Ben Saxe to design a house immersed in the canopy because of the studio’s "beautiful designs that work with the environment rather than against it," the clients say.
Photo by Alvaro Fonseca
"While the home is on a single level, the terrain around it descends steeply," explains Studio Saxe. "One side aligns with the forest floor, while the other is raised above the ground. The perimeter walkway takes visitors from moss-covered roots up to the treetops." The deep roof, slatted screens, and raised foundation are designed for the region’s tropical climate, while photovoltaic and hydroelectric systems make the home self-sufficient. Because of the remote site, the steel components were prefabricated and delivered during the dry season.
Photo by Alvaro Fonseca
Gwen Vriesema found himself short on space when he began working from home during the pandemic, but he didn’t want to renovate his 1950s thatched cottage in Oosterbeek, the Netherlands. The solution? A tiny prefab dwelling from Swedish company Manta North that strikes a sharp contrast with his historic existing home.
Photo by Jussi Puikkonen
After perusing the company’s six turn-key prefab models, Gwen settled on the 270-square-foot Weekend unit. It is designed around an open floor plan. The entry opens to the living area, with space for a kitchenette, desk, small bed, and sofa. A small hallway leads to a bathroom and a combined utilities and storage zone. Features like the finishes and roof can be customized, and the model can be upgraded to include solar panels and additional windows.
Photo by Jussi Puikkonen
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