Aloha

Architect and designer Charlie Lazor's Flatpak House comes in flat pieces that are assembled on site to cut down on cost and environmental impact. Many prefab housing manufacturers aren't so keen on the idea of a modernist house, so Lazor went straight to the source: glass panels (clear or sandblasted), wall panels (timber, metal, hardiboard, or concrete), and other components come from different suppliers, converging only when they are delivered to the site. If a manufacturer has a local franchise, shipping emissions can be reduced further.

Lazor lives in one configuration of the 8' by 8' grid system; other possible layouts are shown in a PDF on the website. But who says you’re limited by that? The first step to designing a Flatpak house is playing about with stickers on a floorplan grid. Then you send your creation in and tell the architects about the site. Prefab it may be, but the design is initiated by you. And you might actually be able to afford it, too: the PDF also tells you exactly what will be included in the estimated $130-$145 per square foot, a comparable price to the NowHouse also billing itself as affordable modern prefab. ::Flatpak House [by KK]

Spotted in a March 2005 issue of NewsWeek Magazine, and the scarfed from a google search

Flatpak House, January 10, 2005 12:40 PM - www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/fabzone/131FlatPak-Lazor/FlatPak%20CAT1-fabzone.pdf

Meet Shibumi Bubba Shibumi: In the dictionary: (shi-boo'-me) - A term from the Edo period in Japan, used to describe quiet or somber things. Anything that is Shibumi is quiet in refinement, noble and fulfilling in a manner that is not shaped exclusively by analytical thought. In Japanese culture: a simplicity of spirit; an attitude of refinement without pretension, honesty without apology, beauty without artifice. Western mystics try to attain or achieve a state of inner peace, but shibumi must be found, not won. In the dictionary: (shi-boo'-me) - A term from the Edo period in Japan, used to describe quiet or somber things. Anything that is Shibumi is quiet in refinement, noble and fulfilling in a manner that is not shaped exclusively by analytical thought. In Japanese culture: a simplicity of spirit; an attitude of refinement without pretension, honesty without apology, beauty without artifice. Western mystics try to attain or achieve a state of inner peace, but shibumi must be found, not won. "