Homes can be expensive in Beijing, China.
A design firm in the area, called People's Architecture Office (PAO), heard from a woman who was struggling to afford a home, and had taken to living in a small, dilapidated house in the courtyard of her parents' residence outside the city.
Fed up with the poor conditions, Mrs. Fan (who declined to give her full name for privacy reasons), commissioned PAO to build her a new home.
The architects designed what they call a Plug-in House for her in December 2016.
With just $10,000 worth of materials and a hex wrench, a construction team can build the Plug-in House in less than 24 hours, PAO's principal, James Shen, told Business Insider in March. The firm based the design on a similar one it used to create a renovation system that consists of locking pre-fabricated panels.
In July 2017, the Plug-in House made the shortlist for the World Architecture Festival's World Building of the Year award. The winner will be named at the festivalin Berlin in November.
Check out the Plug-in House below.
SEE ALSO: This ready-made retrofit system can renovate old homes in just a few hours with a wrench
The Plug-in House is located in Changchun Jie, a small town outside Beijing.
Mrs. Fan lives there with her son. The one-story house they used to occupy on the site was demolished before the Plug-in House's construction. Here's a before and after.
The Plug-in House is much more modern.
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