Architecture

Kiss House flatpack home can be assembled in just four days

Kiss House flatpack home can be assembled in just four days
Each Kiss House is a certifiable Passivhaus, a building standard which focuses on reducing a home's heating demand and primary energy consumption
Each Kiss House is a certifiable Passivhaus, a building standard which focuses on reducing a home's heating demand and primary energy consumption
View 18 Images
Each Kiss House is a certifiable Passivhaus, a building standard which focuses on reducing a home's heating demand and primary energy consumption
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Each Kiss House is a certifiable Passivhaus, a building standard which focuses on reducing a home's heating demand and primary energy consumption
The exterior can be finished in four different cladding options including timber (larch, cedar, chestnut or others by request)
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The exterior can be finished in four different cladding options including timber (larch, cedar, chestnut or others by request)
The Kiss House featuresopen-plan living on the ground floor, with a large modern kitchen,wooden flooring and floor-to-ceiling glass windows
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The Kiss House featuresopen-plan living on the ground floor, with a large modern kitchen,wooden flooring and floor-to-ceiling glass windows
Offering two, three and four bedroom versions, the Kiss House is built using cross-laminated timber (CLT).
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Offering two, three and four bedroom versions, the Kiss House is built using cross-laminated timber (CLT).
Each Kiss dwelling is created and designed to suit the individual owner’s needs
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Each Kiss dwelling is created and designed to suit the individual owner’s needs
TheKiss model meets Passivhaus standards, which focuses on reducing a home's heating demand and primary energy consumption
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TheKiss model meets Passivhaus standards, which focuses on reducing a home's heating demand and primary energy consumption
Kiss homes are designed so that they can be reconfiguredover time and grow with a family or individual as their living needschange and evolve
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Kiss homes are designed so that they can be reconfiguredover time and grow with a family or individual as their living needschange and evolve
Individual bedrooms and bathrooms are located upstairs on the first floor
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Individual bedrooms and bathrooms are located upstairs on the first floor
A sample of the Kiss House bathroom
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A sample of the Kiss House bathroom
Kiss House exterior clad in bricks
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Kiss House exterior clad in bricks
Kiss House rendering
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Kiss House rendering
Kiss house design model
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Kiss house design model
Kiss 2.1 floorplan ground floor
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Kiss 2.1 floorplan ground floor
Kiss 2.1 floorplan upstairs
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Kiss 2.1 floorplan upstairs
Kiss 3.1 floorplan upstairs
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Kiss 3.1 floorplan upstairs
Kiss 3.1 floorplan ground floor
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Kiss 3.1 floorplan ground floor
Kiss 4.1 floorplan ground floor
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Kiss 4.1 floorplan ground floor
Kiss 4.1 floorplan upstairs
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Kiss 4.1 floorplan upstairs
View gallery - 18 images

UKPassivhaus specialist Mike Jacob has joined with award-winningarchitect Adrian James to create a flatpack home that takes less than a week to install. Dubbed "Kiss House" the prefabricatedhousing model is similar in concept to the Mini House froma few years back, but on a much bigger and more livable scale.Offering two,three and four bedroom versions, the Kiss House is built usingcross-laminated timber (CLT),which is a sustainable alternative to traditional building methodssuch as concrete and steel construction.

"EachKiss House shell is made from top quality precision engineered CLTwhich is fast becoming recognized as the optimum method ofconstruction worldwide due its exceptional performance in terms ofenergyperformance; strength; fire, acoustic and seismic performance andsustainability," Mike Jacob, Director of Kiss House tells NewAtlas. "Hugecarefully managed forests mean more trees are planted than cut downand each Kiss House will regrow in approximately one hour. Iknow it sounds incredible, but it is simply because the managedforests in Austria are huge and very carefully managed."

TheKiss model also meets Passivhaus standards, which has a primary focusof reducing a home'sheating demand and primary energy consumption. The Passivhausstandard was developed by Professors Bo Adamson of Sweden andWolfgang Feist of Germany in the 1990s and describes itself as "aholistic low energy design concept."

Passivhausfeatures include highinsulation;passive solar gains and thermal mass; air-tightness of a building andnatural indoor air circulation.

"EachKiss House is a certifiable Passivhaus," says Jacob. "Thisis the international gold standard for energy efficiency inconstruction. Passivhaus buildings have exceptional comfort and verylow running costs. There is no better standard for energy or comfortperformance."

The exterior can be finished in four different cladding options including timber (larch, cedar, chestnut or others by request)
The exterior can be finished in four different cladding options including timber (larch, cedar, chestnut or others by request)

TheKiss House comes in three different versions. Kiss 2.1 whichis a 80 sq m (861 sq ft) two bedroom home with a 53.4 sq m (574.8 sq ft)footprint. Kiss 3.1 is a 124 sq m (1,334.7 sq ft) three bedroom homewith a footprint of 78.4 sq m (843.9 sq ft) and Kiss 4.1 is a 140 sq m(1,507 sq ft) four bedroom home with a footprint of 85.8 sq m (923.5 sqft).

Each house is prefabricated off site in a series of "panels," allowing the home to be shipped andtransported in a "flatpack." Once delivered on site andafter the concrete slab is prepared, a Kiss House can beassembled in about three to four days anywhere in the world.

"Theyare panelized, so they are shipped in an efficient manner – notvolumetric which means transporting 3D buildings which isn't veryefficient," says Jacob. "They are transported by road orsea depending on where in the world our client is. We can shipanywhere and are currently talking to customers all over the world."

The Kiss House featuresopen-plan living on the ground floor, with a large modern kitchen,wooden flooring and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Individualbedrooms and bathrooms are located upstairs on the first floor andthe home is 100 percent airtight. The exterior can be finished in fourdifferent cladding options: traditional masonry (bricks);metal (zinc, copper, or stainless steel); classic rendering or timber(larch, cedar, chestnut or others by request).

The Kiss House featuresopen-plan living on the ground floor, with a large modern kitchen,wooden flooring and floor-to-ceiling glass windows
The Kiss House featuresopen-plan living on the ground floor, with a large modern kitchen,wooden flooring and floor-to-ceiling glass windows

EachKiss dwelling is created and designed to suit the individual owner'sneeds and although these are prefabricated homes, they are by nomeans carbon copies of each other. The interior and floor-plan canchange for each home and Kiss House can also provide the home as anempty shell, for buyers to complete the interior however they desire.What's more, the homes are designed so that they can be reconfiguredover time and grow with a family or individual as their living needschange and evolve.

Costsfor the Kiss House is case dependent and subject to bespokespecification, however the homes are designed to offer a high qualityhousing product targeting the mid-range price point. A priceguide for a fully fitted Kiss House inthe UK is approximately £2,000 (around US$2,550) per square meter.

Startingprices for the Kiss export model should be available next month,with shell only models promised to be highly cost effective.

Source: Kiss House via Treehugger

View gallery - 18 images
7 comments
7 comments
Derek Hann
$237 a square foot BEFORE land purchase and permits is not really what I would consider affordable. You are likely well over $300 a square foot after all is said and done.
S Michael
Homes for the masses, while the rich and super rich live in large estates.
Douglas Bennett Rogers
Maybe the small unit bought in large lot and set up in a subdivision would be a "home for the masses". I already live in such a place that was built in the 50's for the post war expansion.
Tanstar
$2,550 a square meter means the cheapest home they make is over $200K. For a 860 square foot home???? Does it come with a furnace for burning money too?
ljaques
Whatever the market will bear, eh? Does it come with vaseline? Well, I see where they got the KISS title: keep it simple, STUPID. You know, I thought modular prefab housing was supposed to be cheaper, since it's all done on a production line at the factory. Gimmick, and not cheap for your basic rectangular house, not unlike a shipping container.
CarolynWade
No closets--that changes the square footage calculation a little for me.
I think the attraction has to be the speed of construction, not the cost-effectiveness.
ChrisDenem
The concept & design is awesome, to say the least. However, the price is very high. Why wouldn't a person at that price point just build using local lumber and builders?
I'm sure these homes will still sell. I just won't be a buyer. As for the concept, I have seen similar designs at texasportable.com but not to the extent or design features of these Tiny homes.
At the end of the day, Bravo on concept and design!