Wikkelhouse
In May 2016, Fiction Factory, a company of creative makers from Amsterdam, revealed a modular building system made of cardboard components.
Named 'Wikkelhouse', which translates from Dutch as 'Wrap House', the completed prototype comprises a series of interlocking cardboard segments that each weigh 500 kg and can be assembled in just one day.
Each of these tubular components is 1.2 metres deep which can be connected and disconnected to extend or reduce the length of a building. They also make it easily transportable.
Four years of research and development by the team has led to a pioneering construction technology that involves a rotating house-shaped mould, around which are wrapped layers of cardboard. A total of twenty-four layers are bonded together using an 'eco-friendly' superglue. The result is an incredibly robust sandwich structure that provides good insulation. The components are finished with a waterproof, breathable foil and wood panelling.
Each Wikkelhouse is tailor-made with windows, different finishes or individual colour schemes. Fiction Factory suggest the structure can be adapted to a variety of uses such as a holiday home, guest house or office space.
Fiction Factory claim that since each Wikkelhouse is sustainably produced and made of materials that have minimal impact on the environment, it is three-times more eco-friendly than traditional housing. As well as this, the segments can be reused and are 100% recyclable.
Wikkelhouse is currently only available in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Germany, the U.K., and Denmark, although they hope this will change in the future.
Content courtesy of Fiction Factory.
Images credited to Yvonne Witte.
For more information, see Wikkelhouse.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Closed plan.
- Cube Houses.
- Design for deconstruction.
- Disposable Houses.
- Floating church.
- Green building.
- Hex House project.
- Kit house.
- KODA house.
- Modular buildings.
- Prefabrication.
- Prenuptial Housing.
- Sustainability in building design and construction.
- Sustainable materials.
- Wiki house.
- Y Cube.
- Y House.
Featured articles and news
Introducing or next Guest Editor Arun Baybars
Practising architect and design panel review member.
Quick summary by size, shape, test, material, use or bonding.
Types of rapidly renewable content
From forestry to agricultural crops and their by-products.
Terraced houses and the public realm
The discernible difference between the public realm of detached housing and of terraced housing.
Put digitalisation and sustainability at the core of curricula
Project management educators are urged.
Looking back at the influence of climate events
From a designer and writer: 'There are limits to growth but no limits to development'.
Terms, histories, theories and practice.
Biophilic design and natural light
Letting in the light and natural elements into spaces.
APM Programme Management Conference 2024
Strategies for Success.
Residential takes the reins as contract awards even out
Contracts down, but remain above the last quarter of 2023.
Celebrating Eid and the largest mud-brick building.
Barry Kingscote claims prestigious CIOB CMYA Award.
The British Mosque: an architectural and social history
The story of some 1,500 mosques or more in Britain.
Heat pump refrigerants, efficiencies and impacts
R12 to R1270 what are the differences?
Global heat pump market in 2023
Challenging times with positive but modest outlook.
Beyond the infrastructure pipeline
Opportunities and chokepoints.