HABODE: Home Can Be Anywhere
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 10.18.07
Designer Rod Gibson says “Design shapes our lives. Whether man-made, or from nature, design influences many of our decisions. From the products we buy; to the services we use; to the impressions we have. Design affects us all; our emotions, our ethos, our actions; our vision.”
He is also in New Zealand, blessed with an almost perfect climate and an appreciation for architectural innovation and good design, judging from what we have seen come out of it.
HABODE is an eco-friendly concept that appears to fold out of two shipping container sized frames that can be transported anywhere using standard container handling equipment, without being limited by the solid steel walls of a standard shipping container.
The 80m2 footprint is fixed, but within the envelope there are lots of options. It sits on twenty timber pile foundations and "is not a temporary structure. It has an engineered foundation plan and will be assembled for your personal requirements from the options you select. The convenience of a relocatable home is the flexibility it offers your lifestyle. Erect it by the lake, move it to the beach, take it to the river, or that secret secluded spot you call home."
"• HABODE can be folded away, transported and re-opened by HABODE’s trained assembly teams. Each home has an independent producer statement certifying its structural performance for your lifetime*. It can be assembled in two
days and then be made ready for occupation by you and your family, connected to power, water and sewerage."
"The challenge that HABODE has grasped with passion is to provide high quality, potentially self-sufficient, and affordable accommodation alternatives to a range of market environments in Australasia, North America, Asia, and the Pacific Rim region. This strategy seeks to generate a significant impact on the way we think about a home, especially in the niche area of re-locatable, recreational homes. This concept also provides for quality accommodation for industry, urban accommodation for the service sectors and rural accommodation, and many other applications for an economical and timely package both permanent and temporary housing."
There are severe limitations to shipping container housing, but the transport and handling of them is a well-developed science. That is why this is such an interesting concept- it looks like two boxes are delivered at eight feet wide, one of which would have a filler piece with all the 3D hardwired stuff like the kitchen, mechanical systems and bathroom that sits between the other two, solving the problem that shipping containers are dimensioned for shipping, not people.
It is the best of both worlds, taking advantage of the transport infrastructure while designing an elegant solution that busts through the dimensional limitations of the container. Rod Gibson has done something remarkable here; this could really work.
Check out the cool options animation.
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Why are so many of these innovative designs just damned ugly?
Wouldn't it be easier to sell your idea if it was pleasant to look at?
'The niche area of re-locatable, recreational homes' is not a green niche. Homes should not be moving about from here to there on a whim - it requires too much energy. And 'recreational' is code to me for second vacation home - society needs to move away from thinking that second vacation homes are still acceptable.
Having said that, I see a number of features in this home which I think are quite green. Size. Shape. Interior design. There seem to be a lot of windows and too little insulation, but if the weather is 'perfect' in NZ as mentioned in the article, than this is definitely not a problem.
As for looks, it really is in the eye of the beholder. I personally don't see anything wrong with the looks of this house. In my eye it is not a masterpiece of beauty, but neither is it ugly. I've seen some really ugly buildings that seem to fetch ridiculous prices.
I've know the building and live in NZ.
The weather is far from perfect. However HABODEs have double glazing on glass and have a high thermal efficiency. Design to cope with extreme condition of the Australian Western Territory.
There is also a version called Remote that uses solar and wind power, collects rainwater and require no sewerage connection. So in my view fairly green.
In terms of movement of the building. It's not designed to be a mobile home. The benefits of being able to install a prefabricated building where energy used in 'production' is used efficiently due to production efficiencies.
That said - because it's built to use container infrastructure - getting it to the site - is very efficient vs say shipping building materials.
Check out the website at habode.com
It's certainly interesting. There is no prices on the web site and also for owner construction discounts. I consider these options as a potential Investor/Developer.
It's not the most beautiful of buildings but it would be a beautiful building to put in the Grampians when looking for views of the mountains.
Another thing I am not to sure of how well it would go down slapped on a block in the middle of town as far as Council would be concerned?
Will council accept a 'no sewerage connection' in a township that otherwise generally requires standard sewerage connection? No sewerage is a big cost savings to construction costs.
What is the extra costs shipping to Australia.
There is a lot of questions left unanswered can, someone answer them and perhaps update the hadobe.com web site.
i belive this structure is really attractive, if i could only find some prices for it. if any one has any info please let me know, im very interested
We were at a home show last weekendi in Perth & got a price to have it delivered & installed in Western Australia. For Perth Metro area, A$150,000. For Margaret River A$160,000. There is also another 1/2 sized module which can be attached (has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and sitting room) - another A$90,000
I love the idea and design, but as a first home buyer, this is far too expencive to called affordable and far too small for what you would otherwise get for $150,000 - $160,000.
On the website it mentioned the posibility of using this for housing in crisis areas. That is its mark. Easy and cheap to transport, qucik to assembly to house many people in quality housing in a short amount of time.
Im sorry to call this a container, but if you want me to live in a container you are going to have to make this more competitive with standard housing.