All You Need is a Screwdriver.

Jena and I were walking our dog Sadie around "the lakes" as they are called just south of Minneapolis (there are a series of 4-5 lakes very close to a very upscale and trendy part of the city) and we happened by a great house right off Cedar Lake.

The home was under construction but it was like no construction I had ever seen. It looked as though a truck had dropped off the walls and ceilings and floors in a nice, neat stack and that a father and his sons were putting the house together — not really building it mind you but more like constructing it as they would a big Lego project.

I have been hearing more and more about modular, and prefab(ricated), and now it would appear I can add another term — the Flatpak House.

After returning home, a quick Google search led me (by way of Sensible Erection) to this month's article in Rake Magazine about not only preconfigured homes but the very home I had seen. (a great lefty rag in "the Twin Cities")

I wondered, could it be possible to get a home like this and build it myself? Could it be cost effective to buy a home in such a way? Will modern architecture ever become popular here (the U.S.) as it is in Europe?

As it turns out I am not the only one with questions such as these — there a great many resources devoted to just these types of ideas and a lot of interest in these types of homes. Here are a few sites I have found over the course of the past year:

fabprefab.com — site devoted to "modernist prefab dwellings".

The Dwell Home - a contest to challenge architecture firms to create beautiful, affordable, prefab homes. The winners, consequently are also next on my list of sites to check out...

Resolution 4: Architecture and their custom modular home site.

Living Modern's prefab house resources including: the Glidehouse and the LV Home which appear to be two of the most promising commercial options.

Flat-Pack houses in the UK: Flat-pack' house that's ready in a week