Texas based company Kasita is taking the mobile housing concept to a higher dimension and will be offering plug in studio apartments in Austin by mid 2016.
The plug-ins are moveable prefabricated units that slide into a permanent frame work, a little like sliding drawers into a bureau.
A Kasita spokesperson says the plug-ins will allow one to “plug straight into the city allowing you to easily hop metropolises on demand with the tap of an app”. The plug-ins can be easily transported by trucks, just like shipping containers are.
The prefabricated units contain built-in hideaways or slide-in furniture, a full kitchen, bathroom, washer and dryer, all in a 208-square-foot living space. The Austin studios will be available at a rental of $600 per month, with Kasita planning to take their concept to Brooklyn, Manhattan, Denver, Seattle, Los Angeles and Stockholm.
The spokesperson says the affordability of the plug-in studios is possible because of their low-cost construction method. The units are prefabricated in a factory with all of the required utilities infrastructure built in, making them easily transported to site and stacked either on top of each other, or side-by-side. Once in place, electricity, water and heating are connected.
He says the company is looking into both purchasing or renting inner city lots.
A more basic level of the studios are being considered for temporary use, such as emergency housing following a natural disaster, or for events like Olympic Games or World Cups, where accommodation needs are temporary.
The plug-ins are a partnership between Professor Jeff Wilson, who is renowned for creating small living spaces and is famous for living in a small dumpster for a year, and industrial design firm Frog.
The spokesperson says the inspiration behind the project was “as much by the sleek simplicity of the iPhone and various container type home projects.”
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