RVTR is an architectural firm which won the Prix de Rome, Canada’s most coveted architectural prize. They conducted research into prefab homes which are just right for cold climates. The idea is to use this prototype to help factories, homes, sheds and other edifices across Northern Europe, Asia and Japan in order to help the assembly lines warm up to winters.

The spaces expand and contract in warm and cold seasons respectively. The prefab house is composed of flexible layers which come with photovoltaics that generate solar energy. It is composed of several layers just like a hiker would wear clothes in several layers in cold and in winter while trekking or hiking.

When it is warm, the layers will allow the house to expand and breathe and when it is cold the layers would make the house conditioned and warm enough and also make use of solar energy which makes sure energy is not wasted or thwarted. You could call this a great development in architecture as most cold countries use a lot of energy to warm the houses and now all that won’t be necessary.

Via: Treehugger