Sydney, Australia-based architect Stephen Sainsbury is the mastermind behind the Ecoshelta, a series of modular, demountable prefab homes with timber frames and corrugated-metal siding and roofs that can be specified in a variety of styles, from barrel-vaulted to gabled. Ecoshelta—named so that even we Yanks have to pronounce it the Aussie way—is meant to have minimal environmental impact, and its interiors are lined with plywood sourced from certified-sustainable plantations. For naysayers wondering if those aluminum roofs are also "eco-friendly," Treehugger notes that the designers used an aluminum alloy composed of 15 percent recycled material that has the added benefit of being five times as strong as steel and weighing about half as much.
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