Prefab Inhabit apartments
via Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Building cost-effective and desirable housing is the key to sustaining authentic urban communities. That’s why Unico created inhabit, housing designed to make city living more accessible. inhabit is built using the most advanced and efficient technologies and clearly demonstrates that attractive, high quality modular apartments are a practical reality for future city dwellers.
The architecture of inhabit follows a tradition of mid-century modern design, influenced by the optimism of the early 21st century. The design refers to a cultural, artistic and intellectual state that elevates the individual. This path of modern architecture is no longer focused on a rejection of ornament, but the elevation of the spare canvas that allows for the personal ornamentation of the space.
Unico’s target market for the Inhabit apartments are young professionals who are mobile, educated, adept with technology and like something environmentally responsible with design flair. The model units feature modern lines and fixtures, accented with touches such as a porcelain dog resting on a lime shag rug under a glass-and-chrome coffee table in front of a white vinyl couch.
The units are 15 feet wide and 45 feet long, although they can be coupled side by side to create apartments with up to three bedrooms; some also sacrifice indoor length for outdoor decks. They can be stacked up to five high and arranged lengthwise or widthwise in rows to create apartment buildings with up to 100 units.
Unico took two years to design and build the first apartments, working with two Seattle architecture firms: Mithun and HyBrid Architecture. Company executives want to start installing the apartments in hip, urban neighborhoods of Seattle and Portland within the next two years.
