Home
tech
A Harvard grad invented these $139,000 stackable homes that can be built in under three weeks

A Harvard grad invented these $139,000 stackable homes that can be built in under three weeks

Kasita (a startup that gets its name from "casita," the Spanish word for "little house") sells tiny housing units that encourage a minimalist lifestyle.

The interiors have a modern look. At 352 square feet, white walls help the units look larger than they are. (For comparison, the average one-car garage measures about 260 square feet.)

The main, open-layout space functions as both a living room and bedroom. In the model unit, a bed pulls out from the sofa (though the units come unfurnished).

Across from the living room, there's a sleek kitchen.

While they don't include full ovens, there are electric stovetops and dishwashers.

Around the corner, there's a bathroom with a shower.

Since the units are so small, they are designed with space-saving storage. Drawers are located inside stairs.

Each home also features tech integrations, including glass windows that adjust their transparency depending on the amount of natural sunlight.

Kasita units can also stack on top of each other to form a complex ...

... or they can sit on rooftops.

The first batch of stackable units, which people can also pre-order online, will be delivered in December 2017.

"We want to take the noise out of buying a home. Imagine how great it would be to be able to buy a home as easily as you buy a product," Wilson says. "The long-term plan would be that you could just put in your address and credit card number and we would care of the rest."

Wilson, who's also a Harvard graduate and a former IBM project manager, got the idea for Kasita after living in a dumpster for a year in 2014.

Owning a lot of stuff felt burdensome, so he sold the majority of his possessions and moved into (and renovated) the small, empty dumpster in Austin, Texas.

He says that the Kasita is both "a product and a home." The way that his team designs future Kasitas will evolve, depending on owners' needs and wants.

"The way we build housing (and even skyscrapers) hasn’t changed substantially in over 100 years and a lot of that lag is because we haven’t updated the way we approach building," he says. "A house is built once and it’s only improvement will be a marble countertop replacement in 30 years. A Kasita product can iterate version upon version and improve based on user experience."

View Other Slidelists