10 LOW-COST HOMES THAT COULD HELP TACKLE THE GLOBAL HOUSING CRISIS

Sorte Hus, Denmark, by Sigurd Larsen
Danish architect Sigurd Larsen built this small family house in Copenhagen for just £95,000 – a feat he claims is near-impossible in the Danish capital. He intends the property, which has a black-painted timber exterior and sloping gabled roof, to become a prototype for low-cost housing.
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Mami House, Portugal, by José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira
This cuboid concrete house for a family outside Porto cost just £84,000 to build. To keep the budget down, José Carlos Nunes de Oliveira left the interior concrete walls bare and added as few partitions as possible.
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Estonian design collective Kodasema has made its prefab micro home available to purchase in the UK for £150,000, in an attempt the shake up the housing market and make use of empty plots of land.
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Jim Vlock Building Project, US, by Yale students
Briefed with creating a flexible prototype on an £86,300 construction budget, graduate students from the Yale School of Architecture built this cedar-clad house for a low-income Connecticut neighbourhood. The dwelling references the local vernacular.
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Casa Invisibile, Slovenia, by Delugan Meissl
This prototype dwelling can be transported straight from factory to site on a lorry, and is covered in mirrors to help it blend in with the landscape. It features a modular interior that can be configured in different ways to suit the needs of its occupants and cost just £88,000 to build.
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IVRV House, US, by SCI-Arc students
Students in a design-build program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture have completed a sustainable house in an impoverished area of Los Angeles, featuring “eco-screens” to keep it cool and large cuts in the facade to bring in daylight.
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MIMA House, Portugal, by MIMA Architects
This modular house in Portugal can be divided into rooms with a grid of removable partitions, and has large windows that can be transformed into walls with plywood panels if more privacy is required.
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S House, Vietnam, by Vo Trong Nghia Architects
This housing prototype is the third in a series by Vo Trong Nghia Architects. Despite being strong enough to withstand earthquakes, the house is made of lightweight modular compartments that can be transported by standard shipping container.

Happy Cheap House, Sweden, by Tommy Carlsson
Proving that cheap houses don’t have to be generic, Tommy Carlsson clad this prefabricated home in corrugated iron and gave it a sculptural appearance that changes when viewed from different angles.
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Low Cost House, South Korea, by JYA-rchitects
Extremely low-cost materials including bubble wrap and corrugated steel sheets served as insulation in a series of low-cost houses in South Korea, but were also used to bring in natural light.
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See more examples of low-cost housing on Dezeen’s Pinterest board ›
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