The naked house -- by Lloyd Alter

This article is from Treehugger 3 Jan 2011.

Photos: Alex de Rijke at drmm

How did I miss this one? It pushes every button. British architecture firm drmm designed the Naked House for an exhibition in Norway in 2006; it is delivered (and is built on top of) a shipping container, filled to the brim with flatpack panels made from my materiel-du-jour, cross-laminated timber or CLT.

It can be erected anywhere in the world where there is road or sea access, and delivered six weeks from client design approval as a flat pack in a standard container. This envelope forms the structure's base, elevating the house to the container's 3m height. The container becomes support structure, store, garage or boathouse. Naked House can be dismantled, repacked into the container, and moved to a new site anytime.

All the panels are cut out of the solid wood panels. The architects write:

Conceptually, the house works as a cut-out diagram, with all numbered elements - including door and window openings - digitally pre-cut from substantial cross-laminated timber panels made from fast growing soft woods....the house can use existing services, or solar waterheating and a wastewood-burner.

This three dimensional jigsaw is secured by superlong screws, and can be assembled by four people and a small crane in two days.

There are so many interesting ideas here. Flatpack construction means that one is not shipping a lot of air; designing around the shipping container means that transport is pretty economical; the use of cross-laminated timber means that there is very little finishing required on site. Nice idea. Found on Trendhunter.

More case studies of Living Buildings.
More on cross-laminated timber:
Skagen ØKOntor: The Greenest Office Building in Norway
Nine Storey Apartment Built Of Wood in Nine Weeks By Four Workers
School Built From Wood By Sheppard Robson