Design & Architecture

If you missed out on buying a bullet-ridden prefab house from the Congo by famous architect Jean Prouvé at $5M, then here is your next chance. A wood-composite prefab by famous architect Shigeru Ban, for only $1.2M--a snip by any standards. Called "the Space of Silence", it will be offered at auction in the summer and the proceeds will be donated to charity. It is made of a wood plastic composite of recycled materials--mainly self-adhesive labels of paper and plastic. The labels are surplus and the composite, called ProFi, is tough and humidity resistant. It can be recycled back into the production process.

Looking like a giant shed, it is comprised of a module (roof, wall and structural elements) which is repeated 21 times. The entire pavilion is 40 meters long and 5 meters wide and can be taken down and re-assembled easily. It was pre-built and assembled in Finland, in association with the Finnish furniture company Artek and UPM, a forest products company. The building is a bit of a nomad, having been displayed in Milan, Miami and Helsinki already. Next stop: your back yard. :: ArchNewsNow.com