CABN’s Canadian prefab offers a flexible path to low-cost, low-energy living
This simple wooden cabin by CABN is designed to be the bedrock of future net-zero communities
CABN belongs to a small but highly visible sub-set of prefab makers shooting for the moon with a non-standard design.
Looking at the wider history of prefabrication and modular building, prefabs promise so much. If your sights aren’t set especially high, then the vast majority of factory-built homes available around the world will do pretty much exactly what you need them to: provide shelter at a substantially lower cost than a conventionally built house.
CABN: a vision becomes reality
This Canadian company wants to do more than just be a provider of tiny homes and trailer park alternatives; and it hopes that this showhome points the way to more sustainable, low-cost housing and denser communities.
The plus points of CABN’s initiative is that the 752 sq ft structure is designed to generate more energy than it consumes, effectively creating a net-zero product. The company’s founder, Jackson Wyatt, previously set up the composting material specialist Greenlid, which manufactures alternatives to traditional plastics.
CABN has also unveiled its plans for a 67-home net-zero community development to be completed in Augusta Township. This one-bed SON.DER model is one of four different products CABN hopes to build, each taking around 20 per cent of the energy of a traditional home. Wyatt and his team are looking to build a new community containing 67 such houses as a proof of concept, with two-, three- and four-bed models offering scope for a varied and diverse population, alongside the single bed option.
Energy-saving and generating features include integrated solar panels on roof overhangs as well as high levels of insulation and solar shading to keep a constant interior temperature. B+H Architects, a global design consultancy, is a collaborator on the project, and the little cabin is a long way from the firm’s portfolio of commercial offices and towers. Even so, B+H has deployed its considerable research and knowledge of biomimetic design.
The showhome’s interior features and furnishings have been provided by Canadian furniture and interiors specialist EQ3, which designs and manufactures its products in Winnipeg. Constructed mostly from FSC-certified cross-laminated timber, CABN has come up with a low-key, straightforward structure that’s without pretence or pastiche.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
CABN’s first showhome is open for viewings in Eastern Ontario. Details at CABN.co
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Light up! Bard brightens the Scottish winter with a show of candle lights
Bard in Edinburgh brings together 20 Scottish makers to reimagine the humble candleholder in an illuminating group show
By Ali Morris Published
-
Tekαkαpimək Contact Station: a building ‘as inspiring as the endless forest and waterways of the land’
The new Tekαkαpimək Contact Station by Saunders Architecture with Reed Hilderbrand and Alisberg Parker Architects, opens at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument in the USA
By Beth Broome Published
-
Bentley collaborates with fashion designer Supriya Lele to create ‘Nīla Blue’
This one-off Bentley Bentayga S showcases a new paint and interior specification created with Indian-British designer Supriya Lele
By Shawn Adams Published
-
This sustainable family home is an Ontario retreat in tune with its setting
Ridge House by Superkül is a private Canadian retreat that nods to its context and embraces nature and landscape
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Bunkie on The Hill is a cosy Canadian cottage full of charm
Bunkie on The Hill, a design by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design, is tucked into the trees, slotting neatly into Ontario's nature
By Shawn Adams Published
-
Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: meet the practices
In the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2024, our latest guide to exciting, emerging practices from around the world, 20 young studios show off their projects and passion
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Svima looked to Japanese architecture, 'nature and ecology' for Passageway House in Serbia
The Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024 includes Svima, a young Canadian practice joining our annual round-up of exciting emerging architecture studios
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Arthur Erickson's Museum of Anthropology at UBC has been given a new lease of life in Vancouver
After an extensive renovation, The Museum of Anthropology is part Shinto shrine, part cathedral, part longhouse – and a temple to learning
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
A dramatic new lakeside cabin in the Canadian wilderness rises above the trees
Kariouk Architects' lakeside cabin ‘m.o.r.e. CLT’ explores new material approaches while making a minimal impact on a precious landscape
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Forest Retreat is a new low-energy family house in the forests of Ontario
Set beneath a vast roof, Forest Retreat is a rich mix of local materials, craftsmanship and space for an extended family to get together in the heart of nature
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Join the West Coast Modern Week's Home Tour 2024 for modernist architecture and more
West Coast Modern Week 2024 comes with its annual home tour courtesy of the West Vancouver Art Museum, offering an extensive, immersive showcase of Canada's modernist architecture
By Hadani Ditmars Published