Pallet house

When we saw this beautiful house made almost entirely from wood pallets, "Awesome" was the first word that came to mind. The Paletten Haus was designed by two students from the University of Vienna and won the 2008 GAUDI European Student Competition on Sustainable Architecture. It's made out of reused pallets, and is modular, energy efficient and affordable, making it perfect for low-income housing. It could even offer a housing option for people in developing countries with little access to building materials -- in fact, the designers of the Paletten Haus are in South Africa right now developing a low-cost unit that runs $11/ sq foot.

Back in 2008, Andreas Claus Schnetzer and Gregor Pils, entered their Paletten Haus into the GAUDI competition, which was seeking designs for minimal houses of leisure for the XXI century. Their pallet house design stole the show and has since gone on to be displayed in many locations around Europe, including Grenoble, Venice, Vienna, Linz and Brussels. Since then, they have also won the 2009 Piranesi Student Honorable Mention.
Homes have been made from pallets before, mostly because pallets are really quite useful materials. They are durable, easily reused and recycled, and they come in standard sizes around the world, making it easy to gain access to the materials no matter where you are. Two layers of pallets serve as the home’s walls, ceiling, and as a sunscreento shade the structure and allow for ventilation. Then structural support, insulation, conduits and plumbing are sandwiched between the two layers of pallets.

http://inhabitat.com/pallet-haus-an-efficient-affordable-modular-house/