Adjaye Associates and Carl Turner among architects designing “off the peg” houses

London based start-up Cube Haus has enlisted four established firms to design modular buildings aiming to "disrupt the existing housing market".

Adjaye Associates, Faye Toogood, Carl Turner Architects and Skene Catling de la Peña have collaborated with the company to design projects that will be "commissioned and installed by Cube Haus on sites that the company acquires, or will be available to buy as an ‘off-the-peg’ solution for self- builders".

Components will be built in factories in the UK, and houses can be designed to fit any shape or size of land plot, such as "back land sites, gap sites and rooftops", according to Cube Haus.

Carl Turner Architects’ Cube Haus design

Buildings will be made from cross-laminated timber and clad in sustainable materials.

Adjaye Associates has developed a design made up of separate modules that can be "arranged in multiple ways, adapting to the needs of each specific site as well as the needs of different inhabitants".

Carl Turner Architects has designed two separate commissions, the first is a single-storey house with an expansive flat roof based around a courtyard, the second is a larger version of a courtyard house, with two second-storey elements sitting either side of a terrace, providing further accommodation.

Skene Catling de la Pena’s commission for Cube Haus

Skene Catling de la Pena has created the Focus, a "building within a building" that "pulls all the complicated parts of a residential building into its structural core".

Faye Toogood has created a single-storey residence with a pitched-roof that can be clad in galvanized steel or dark charred timber, and can be based in either rural and urban areas.

The buildings will cost between £700,000 and £800,000 and will be sold through London estate agent The Modern House.

Faye Toogood’s Cube Haus building

The Architect’s Journal quotes Philip Bueno de Mesquita, Cube Haus director, as saying: "We want to give Londoners the best of modern British design and manufacturing.

"We’ve seen how some of our most creative designers have put their brainpower into trying to solve London’s housing issues.  

"The aim is to build up a portfolio of building types that ultimately can be scaled up for sites that can accommodate a bigger number of units.

"That’s when it starts to get really interesting; affordable housing designed by some of the most exciting names working in architecture today."

Top image: Adjaye Associates’ Cube Haus design (All images courtesy of Cube Haus)