Succulents and other small plants grow from the tiles that clad this 3D-printed shed, which was designed to offer a solution for the Bay Area's housing shortage.
Located in a backyard in Oakland, California, the Cabin of 3D Printed Curiosities was designed by Emerging Objects ? a local studio focused on experimental uses of 3D printing. The practice was founded in 2012 by Virginia San Fratello and Ronald Rael, who both earned their graduate architecture degrees from Columbia University.

The oversized shed was conceived in response to the city's loosening of rules about accessory dwellings ? small backyard structures that can help ease housing shortages, particularly in dense, urban areas.
"Due to a housing emergency in the Bay Area, the Oakland City Council eased restrictions on the construction of secondary housing units, or backyard cottages," the studio said. "This has opened the door for Emerging Objects to use the relaxed codes to experiment toward addressing housing problems at a micro scale."
The project also provided an opportunity for the studio to deploy its 3D printing expertise at the scale of a building.
"The 3D-Printed Cabin brings many of our material, software and hardware experiments together to demonstrate the architectural potential of additive manufacturing on a weather-tight, structurally sound building," the team said.

Rectangular in plan, the gabled-roof building encompasses 120 square feet (11 square metres). Approxim...