In Japan, the “styrofoam dome” prefab home is all the rage.

The Japan Dome House Co, Ltd has come up with the design, which delivers a certain level of chic, and takes up less space than conventional home.

Then, there’s the price – the homes start at $30,000.

There are over 400 of the homes in the resort village in Kyushu, Japan, and they weigh in at less than 200 pounds. Seven-inch thick walls are designed to provide thermal insulation and are coated with fire retardant, so the house is fireproof. The homes don’t rot or attract termites, are earthquake proof, and gale resistant.

Katsuyuki Kitagawa, owner of the Japan Dome House Co, has been building the homes for the last decade, and believes that their use even stretches beyond just residences.

“I’d like to change the way of farming,” said Kitagawa, citing that he believes all of the advantages over conventional homes is ideal.

“I thought I’d be happy if I could scoop out the bean paste from a manju dumpling and live there,” said Kitagawa, when speaking about one of the products he sold before establishing the modular home manufacturer.

According to The Japan Times, Japan Dome House Co began developing the homes for agricultural purposes in 2015. The stable structure of the dome can be assembled in several days, and it uses about one-tenth the energy of a wooden structure.

More than 450 domed houses in Aso were spared damage when a major earthquake hit Kumamoto and its vicinity last April, and the village was later used as an evacuation site for nearly 700 people.

“I want people around the world to be healthy and not go hungry. This is farming that will not be influenced by the weather or disasters,” said Kitagawa.

For more on unique prefab designs, including Robbie Antonio’s Revolution Precrafted Homes, click here. ##

 

(Image credits are as shown above.)

 

Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.