Forget flat-pack furniture. Meet flat-pack architecture

That’s why British architecture firm IF_DO has designed an office building that can be dismantled and fully rebuilt elsewhere, like flat-pack furniture. The $485,000 building is a winner in Fast Company‘s Innovation By Design awards in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa category.

The Hithe sits on a plot of land in South London that’s been marked as temporarily vacant until the local council develops a permanent plan for the area. The building consists of a simple timber structure with steel connectors and metal cladding. The Hithe was designed to last 50 years, but is scheduled to remain at the site for 11. So, when the time comes to move it, the connectors can be unbolted and the timber elements can be unscrewed–no wrecking ball necessary.

Designed as an incubator for small businesses, the office building opened in November 2021 and is now completely full. But just because it’s meant to be temporary, doesn’t mean it looks like it. One of the outer walls boasts a community mural, and the architects are finalizing a garden at the rear of the building. “It’s slowly becoming the community space as well as the small business incubator that was intended,” says IF_DO director Thomas Bryans.