Shift House was born from the need of a Brooklyn family who, after the Covid pandemic, felt the urgency to have an independent house surrounded by greenery. Tight timelines and budget constraints pushed the architects to experiment with prefabricated construction, surpassing its design limitations
The Palette Architecture studio with the Shift House has the opportunity to try an approach that goes beyond traditional architectural projects: the residence composed of prefabricated modules, meticulously studied in detail, is assembled on-site in just one day. Three modules consisting of five types of panels structure the house which has an L-shaped form
The biggest challenge for designers was overcoming the dimensional limits usually imposed by industrial prefabrication and transportation of the pieces. The risk in these cases is to have environments that are narrower and lower than normal. The great work of Palette Architecture instead allowed for a large double-height living space in the central module, and spacious bedrooms in the other two modules
The house covers an area of 150 square meters and, once assembled, the floors and coverings are laid in place. The house embraces and shields from the view of passersby a garden with a pool of essential shape; on the street side, there is a courtyard paved with pebbles and a dry garden for water conservation
The interiors are designed with a visual connection to the greenery at the back. The large windows in the living module bring nature and sky into daily life. The bedrooms also overlook a courtyard, offering an outdoor escape to the sleeping area. The wooden furnishings create a common thread throughout all spaces, contributing to the connection of the modules; the natural textures create a serene and relaxing atmosphere.
