Photo: Orca Yapı Sistemleri

In Turkish, the word for a slum is gecekondu, meaning "settled overnight." A prefabricated house doesn't go up quite that quickly, but mass production can make homes--of both the conventional and ecofriendly type--available to more people at varying income levels.

Around America tent cities are springing up as people are losing their houses and their jobs. And it isn't just the drunks and the disturbed; at this tent city in Reno, Seven in 10 were from the area, where the housing market has cratered, the tourism industry is in the dumps and construction jobs have disappeared. They are the modern Hoovervilles (Bushburbs?) filled with economic refugees.

Friggebods are small swedish cottages; they don't need building permits for less than 150 square feet. This design by Jonas Wagell is available for purchase for 12,200 euros plus freight, with a solar power module for only 1,400 euros. A bath and kitchen module is also available....

With only 570 square feet to play with, Oscar Leo Kaufmann and Albert Ruf devote a good portion of the System3 house at the Home Delivery exhibition to this lovely stair, with hundreds of mini-portholes lighting the way. ...

The show starts on the sidewalk: Visiting Home Delivery at the at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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Dwight Doerkson has developed "an affordable eco friendly building that’s transportable and doesn’t need to be hooked up to the grid"- out of shipping containers. He cuts out an entire wall and hinges it, so when you want to leave your ecopod you simply flip a switch and a solar powered winch pulls up the deck and closes up the box. ...

"The next generation of sustainable building practices will not be about material performance or building imprint on local environments. The next generation of our most sustainable structures will be about designing with future adaptations and flexibility in mind, allowing the building to change overtime to adapt to both use and the environment. They will tell us when they are sick or healthy and sustain life itself."

Sheds in the Great Depression

With the financial and market meltdown one of two things may be happening: You are moving home to live with Mom, or you are mom or dad and the kids are moving back with you. In such circumstances it might be nice to have a place to get away to. That is one of the great selling points for garden sheds; they often do not need building permits, there is now a wide selection of them, and they are the gateway drug for modern prefab.

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This distinctly retro garden shed is the Hermit' Cabin, designed by Mats Theselius has and Arvesund Tradesign. It is built from wood from old Swedish barns, and " recycles not only materials but also history and emotions."

Since 2001 they have shipped and installed cabins all over the world. ...

The 100K House

Chad Ludeman, developer of the 100K House, has looked at the prefab industry closely and concludes: "I just don't believe it is the best way of delivering modern design to the average new home buyer." He writes a guest post at Jetson Green that is thoughtful and thorough. He disputes most of the claims made by those promoting modern prefab (including me):