With These Pop-up Modular Pods You Can Live Anywhere in the World Off-Grid

Pod Space is the award-winning company that specializes in prefab (shortened slang term for “prefabricated”) buildings, and it has just solved your needed extra space issue.

The company specializes in manufacturing small prefabricated modular spaces, or “pods”, as it calls them, which can be installed in the garden or backyard, or even the side of the house, in order to provide an extra room, either for guests, or office space, or simply your own personal “escape space”, for relaxing and taking a break from everyday life.

First things first, some term explanation is needed, starting with “prefab”. As we stated, “prefab” is short for “prefabricated”.

It’s not a strictly architectural term, but rather a term used to describe all forms of pre-made homes, which in modern architecture are divided into roughly three large categories: mobile homes, manufactured homes (created on another site and transported to your build site), and our next term in need of explanation, modular homes.

Modular homes are homes that consist of different parts, transported to your build site and then assembled into the finished house. The parts mostly resemble boxes of cubes, and are called “modules”.

In Pod Space’s case, the small modules are assembled to create a limited space, not large enough to be called a house, but large and remote enough to be considered a separate space.

Apart from the aesthetically pleasing design, containing large Scandinavian glass panels and wood, both providing great insulation and light, Pod Space emphasizes the product’s merits on their website, focusing on three major points:

The design, the Eco-friendly character of the building, and the planning.

According to the company, these modular pods are designed in a way that fulfills the “planning policy” requirements from the start, so that no further planning permissions are needed, thus saving their clients a lot of time, bureaucracy, and possibly extra funds.

More details are also given in the website’s “FAQ” section. The pods’ modular design also makes them easily customizable, in terms of ventilation, light, door position, etc, as well as additional space. It also makes it easy to install and relocate in relatively short amounts of time.

The maximum delivery time claimed by the company is approximately 12 weeks.

Aside from all this, however, the most important feature of modular pods might be how Eco-friendly they were built to be.

The ample lighting provided by the windows certainly makes electric light unnecessary for most hours of the day, and an electricity line can be installed in the pod per the costumer’s request. The pod also uses low-energy LED lights, however, making it possible to overlook the need for further electricity.

The metal frame and wood, as well as other materials used, are firstly as little chemically composed as possible (in an effort to connect the pod’s interior to the exterior nature), but also highly insulated, incorporating “vented cavities and waterproof membranes” to achieve the desired result.

As for the heating aspect, the pod can be equipped with a floor heating system.

Last but not least, the heating for the pod is provided via air source heat pumps; the system uses pumps that take the exterior air heat and transfer it to the interior of the pod as interior heat. The system can be reversed, as it has a cooling option. Thus, the energy used is taken and given back to the environment, foregoing fuel or other heating methods that are harmful to the environment.

The pods come with a 5-year guarantee, and the company looks solid and professional enough (the awards and the fact that it counts 7 years of being on the market are certainly good indicators). Minimal and Eco-friendly space with simple designs seems to lead modern architecture nowadays, seeking relaxation and practicality.

Pod Spaces little pop-up customizable structures are an excellent sample of this philosophy and are sure to gain traction with time.