A collaboration with Argentinian company PHABB to develop a family of house typologies as part of Phäbb’s vision to create affordable modular systems with high design credentials to be sold around the world.
#MODU is a highly flexible modular system that can be configured to create everything from one- off homes through to apartments, adaptable to suit both urban and suburban locations, as well as differing budgets and spatial requirements or constraints. Four designs; DADU House, Suburban House, Beach House and Stack House can all be produced in a range of material palettes in response to the local context, from textured brick and charred timber, to metal panels and shingles.
House sizes across the four types range from 18.6sqm to 263sqm.
DADU House
DADU House is specifically designed where space is an issue, instead using height to create dynamic interiors. Six variations ranging from 18.6sqm to 86sqm mean that this model is suited to first-time buyers, new families and young professionals. Its steep pitched roof and glazed lantern roof create a striking form, while natural light is drawn into double height living areas and windows of varying size frame views to the sky and surroundings - establishing a playful dialogue between the house and its unique setting.
Stack House
Stack House is an apartment building that comprises duplexes at ground floor and three-bed apartments above, which can be built as one module or in a terrace formation. Outdoor space for all apartments is generous; deep-set galleries at the upper levels provide each apartment with an outdoor ‘room’, allowing for external dining or living spaces while ensuring apartment interiors enjoy abundant ambient daylighting. Composed from battened screens that vary in density to allow for privacy and solar shading - dependent on orientation and proximity to neighbouring houses - the façade can be freely modified by individual occupants to suit their preferences.
Suburban House
Suburban House comprises three distinct but linked buildings, with each volume housing the living area, kitchen/dining and bedrooms. Double-height living areas are lit naturally via glazed roof lanterns in the distinctive roof design, while in the bedroom ‘wing’, the sleeping areas are at both ground and first-floor level. Interwoven interior and exterior spaces draw natural light into the heart of the plan, ensuring that the house allows for flexibility of use over the course of a day; a week; and through the seasons.
Beach House
Beach House again uses three volumes, but this time set around a central private courtyard garden or pool, framed within the wider landscape. Living spaces open on to this courtyard via expanses of wraparound glazed doors, which can be opened to allow seamless connection between inside and out. The roof projects to create a shaded veranda that runs around the courtyard’s perimeter on all sides, allowing the house to be positioned within its site to optimise surrounding views.
Client: Phäbb
Architect: Morris+Company