Designer Yves Behar has launched a range of prefabricated accessory dwelling units that aim to tackle rising house costs and increase urban density in California.
The San Francisco-based designer has partnered with custom home company Plant Prefab ? which recently gained funding from Amazon ? to create LivingHomes YB1, the first in a line of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) intended to fill gaps on existing properties.
The micro homes are marketed as potential accommodation for young family members, elderly parents, students or others struggling to afford their own houses.

Unveiled at the Summit ideas festival in LA this week, the YB1 has a modular design that can be fully customised depending on site conditions, functionality and personal taste. Béhar, founder of design studio Fuseproject, believes this is a step onward from his Ori robotic furniture system for transforming space-poor homes, created with researchers at MIT.

"Following our work on efficient living with robotic furniture company Ori, I'm excited to extend the passion for tiny homes and prefab by partnering with LivingHomes," he said.
"For me, the next frontier of design is to think of the entire home as a product that a home owner can shape to their needs in terms of size, usage, aesthetic and lifestyle."

Based on a four-foot (1.2-metre) grid, the ADUs can be built to sizes between 250 and 1,200 square feet (23 and 112 square metres).
Full, half-height and clerestory windows can be pos...