UK architecture studio Koto has made a speciality of prefabricated architecture, elevating the humble cabin into a well-crafted structure that can be precisely tailored to its location and use. The firm’s newest product is Haku, a ‘fully mobile piece of architecture’ pitched at everyone from hotels to homeowners who want the flexibility of additional accommodation without being tied down to a specific spot.
Explore Koto's new Haku suite cabin
The first Haku sites have recently been completed at the Denton Estate in Yorkshire. Demonstrating the flexibility of the system, Haku has been configured as an upscale hotel suite, complete with wood-burning stove and rain-shower bathroom. Countless other uses are possible, all thanks to the way the design slides into a particular loophole in UK planning law.
The Haku suite
Because it sits on a wheeled chassis, the Haku is legally defined as a caravan (under the under the Caravan Sites Act 1968, no less). At a stroke, that does away with restrictions on placement in the landscape, giving the unit access to spots that might otherwise be out of bounds. Because it needs no foundations or concrete slab, the Haku can be removed as easily as it is installed, leaving no scar on the landscape. Measuring 9.74m long by 3.60m wide and 3.85m high, the Haku can easily be trucked onto most sites.
The Haku suite
The building itself is timber framed, with an organic façade made from expanded cork. Koto can also fully furnish the Haku, creating a turnkey hospitality solution, with ultra-short lead times for design, construction and delivery compared to a conventional building. Order enough, and the price comes down – Koto suggests a unit cost of £80k per suite (or £90k each for off-grid units) if you take 15 units.
The Haku suite
‘Haku takes the same philosophy as every Koto commission and releases it from a fixed address,’ says Koto’s co-founder Johnathon Little. ‘What matters is where it can stand: the clearing, the shelf above the water, the ground an estate has always had to leave alone. [It is] architecture that finds its place.’
Inside the Haku suite
Haku is available to hotels, estates and landowners from today. At volume, Haku starts from £80,000 per suite on-grid and £90,000 off-grid at fifteen units, with a tiered pricing scale available for operators planning a phased or multi-suite rollout.
The Haku suite in situ