DIY 'Eames House' kit

Eames Office and Kettal are using Milan Design Week to launch a modular building system that turns Eames-style architecture into a product people can order. (architecturaldigest.com) The system, called the Eames Pavilion System, debuts at Triennale Milano in an exhibition running April 20 to May 10, 2026, with two full-scale pavilion structures on view. Triennale says the show also includes eight newly commissioned house models plus archival drawings, films, and photographs. (triennale.org) Kettal says the installation draws on the “structural logic” of the 1949 Eames House and recasts it as a flexible architectural solution. The company is showing it alongside its Milan Design Week program, which runs at its Via Broletto 44 showroom from April 20 to 26, 2026. (kettal.com) Prefabrication means building parts in a factory and assembling them on site, more like a kit than a conventional house build. Charles and Ray Eames pushed that idea in the 1940s and 1950s as they looked for ways industrial production could address housing demand. (fastcompany.com) Fast Company reported that a four-meter-square indoor module, about 170 square feet, starts at 45,000 euros, with worldwide sales expected in late 2026. It also reported an outdoor version of the same size starts at 60,000 euros and is expected in 2027. (fastcompany.com) Customers can combine modules into larger structures and stack them up to two stories, according to Fast Company’s report from the preview. One double-height configuration shown in Milan was reported at 145,000 euros. (fastcompany.com) The launch lands inside Milan’s biggest design week, where Salone del Mobile runs April 21 to 26, 2026, at the Rho fairgrounds and the citywide Fuorisalone program spreads across Milan. The official Fuorisalone guide lists the 2026 edition as running April 20 to 26. (salonemilano.it) (fuorisalone.it) The Eames name carries weight because the original house in Pacific Palisades, also known as Case Study House No. 8, became one of the best-known homes of postwar American modernism. This new system is not a replica of that house, but a modular offshoot built from the same ideas about standard parts, flexible layouts, and industrial production. (triennale.org) (fastcompany.com) What Milan visitors will see first is not a finished subdivision or a mass-market housing rollout, but a design prototype with prices, dates, and a sales plan attached. That makes the project read less like a museum homage and more like a test of whether a midcentury housing idea can survive contact with the 2026 market. (architecturaldigest.com) (fastcompany.com)