Inside the new two-story Eames Pavilion with metal stairs. The iconic Eames armchair first designed in 1950 and a Noguchi lamp bring timeless midcentury character to the warm, steel-framed interior. Photography by Salva Lopez. ©️2026 Eames Office, LLC. ©️ 2026 Kettal, SL.
Charles and Ray Eames are style icons of furniture and their pioneering architectural philosophy. Their yesteryear vision of modular, human-scale living is now a purchase-ready kit through an innovative collaboration with Spanish maker Kettal.
Words by Charlotte Knight
“What has emerged is a disciplined system: more precise than the original prototypes, technologically updated, and fully industrialised, yet unmistakably Eames in spirit, making possible what Charles and Ray had imagined over 75 years ago,” says the Eames Office in a press release on the 2026 Eames Pavilion System. Their mid-century modern housing system, which has slowly evolved over time, feels like a necessary, long-awaited idea — finally catching up with the present.
Straight from the Eames Office located in Los Angeles, the family are preserving one of the worlds most influential design legacies, as well realizing Charles and Ray’s quest for prefabricated, modular, and human-scale residential architecture that strikes the right balance between rawness and warmth – a thoughtful, colourful and uplifting response to what was at the time of sketching, a grim post war housing crisis.
Charles Eames (1907–1978) and Ray Eames (1912–1988) were a married couple who gave the world some of the most significant objects of modernism, from molded plywood chairs to the famous Eames Lounge Chair — highly acclaimed for its timeless design and comfort, earning widespread praise from designers and collectors alike. Their credo was always functional modernism, industrial materials and problem-solving through simplicity.
Meanwhile, they were also busy developing a vision that architecture could behave like a system — flexible, adaptable, albeit deeply human. Whether designing furniture, experimental architecture, film-making, or exhibition design, they worked to the same ethos: that good design should improve everyday life.
A System That Could Evolve With Need
The Eameses´ began sketching a way of home-making that challenged convention and resistance to permanent building by experimenting with molded plywood and lightweight structures, developed for military use. From this work came a unique design language — one rooted in efficiency and adaptability. What followed was a vision for housing that moved beyond the fixed object: prefabricated, modular, scalable and ultimately a system that could evolve with need. This shift was driven by post-war housing shortages, material constraints, and called for faster, more affordable construction. Much like today in Ibiza, traditional building methods couldn’t keep up with demand, while changing social conditions required more flexible, efficiently produced homes.
The Eameses´ even moved into one of their architectural experiments on modular pre-fab housing in 1949, known as the Eames House Case Study House No. 8, in Pacific Palisades, a secluded residential neighbourhood in Los Angeles. They lived there happily for almost 39 years in total proving that fast assembly (we are talking a speedy 17 hours) and comfort can work in harmony. The house doubled up as a working studio where furniture prototypes were tested, films were made, exhibition concepts were developed and collaborators were regularly hosted. The Eames House reflected their belief that architecture should remain responsive — shaped by life, not frozen by it.
Set on a lush eucalyptus grove in Los Angeles, the Eames House designed and assembled by the couple in 1949, was a radical expression of American mid-century modernism. (Eames House, Case Study House No. 8” photograph by Gunnar Klack, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
¨To Charles and Ray Eames, their residential architectures were as much designed for a specific client as they were prototypes for a new way of building. Never intended as a singular object, their own home, the Eames House, was a demonstration of how industrial processes, modular systems, and deeply personal living could coexist. Architecture, in Charles and Ray’s view, was not static, but a flexible background for life and work¨ says the Eames Office.
Resting peacefully on a eucalyptus grove, the double-height modernist home in their signature style was brimming with character and alive with colour. Primary red and blue infills on the facade were designed to soften the industrial steel structure, control light and privacy, whilst also injecting warmth into the experimental project turned dream home. The Eames House often brings to mind modern art movements such as De Stijl and the abstract compositions of Piet Mondrian, through its rectilinear grid, colour blocks, asymmetrical balance and panel composition. The beautiful setting demonstrates how nature and industrial design can co-exist in LA. It’s also easy to imagine living like this in sunny Ibiza, where people are frustratingly asking the same question daily – where can I find a beautiful yet affordable place to live?
“In the almost 40 years I have been Director of the Eames Office, I have been asked time and again whether it is possible to purchase a reproduction of the Eames House. One-to-one replicas can be interesting, yet we were always holding out for something else–a true systems approach that was also international in its solution. The new system advances prefabricated Eames buildings from prototype to product. Not a facsimile or collector’s edition, but a fully engineered architectural ecosystem. The Eames houses – many of them unbuilt–were always milestones and prototypes for such evolution. Our grandparents’ writings clearly show that even when designed for a specific site, the intent was series production of human habitation.” says Eames Demetrios, grandson of Charles and Ray Eames.
View of the two-story Eames Pavilion, 2026 at the Eames Houses exhibition. Photography by Salva Lopez. ©️2026 Eames Office, LLC. ©️ 2026 Kettal, SL.
Ibiza´s Housing Predicament
Ibiza exists in a living contradiction between permanence and transience. The island expands in the summer season, absorbing waves of tourists, creatives, remote workers, hospitality teams and seasonal residents, making living patterns temporary and fluid. Yet despite this constant movement, much of the residential homes are fixed — slow to adapt, unaffordable for the working class – and even the rich. Difficult to scale and disconnected from the realities of modern island life, lies a system in Ibiza that is no longer working.
The island feels like it’s in a game of tug of war when it comes to finding a place to live hence the Eameses´ design philosophy of evolving with need definitely resonates here. The heritage and culture of the island’s is rooted in exactly that mindset. Take the Casa Payesa — now one of Ibiza’s architectural jewels, worth millions and was built using construction methods passed down through generations of local fishermen and farmers, where like the Eames House, it was never intended as a fixed or complete object. Additional cubic volumes could be added incrementally as the family grew, forming a quiet logic of modular expansion. In that sense, could modular housing be a kind of homecoming for Ibiza?
The Modern Echo of the Eames House
Models of the Eames Houses, unveiled at the Triennale Milano during Milan Design Week in April 2026, showcase the modular vision and structural clarity. Photography by Salva Lopez. ©️2026 Eames Office, LLC. ©️ 2026 Kettal, SL.
Fast forward 75 years and now for the first time since those early concepts were drawn by Charles and Ray Eames, their logic has been translated into a purchasable, buildable product and unmistakingly Eames style. The new Eames Pavilion System 2026 was showcased during Milano Design Week where design lovers, architects and students flocked to Triennale Milano. There, visitors could see every facet of the project for themselves – the Eames Houses exhibition consisted of not only the new Eames Pavilion System that’s very much all-systems-go – but also other installations and some unseen material and archives supplied by the Eames Office.
The Eameses knew just the right studio to carry the lineage forward: Spanish firm Kettal, widely recognized not only for its contemporary outdoor furniture collections, but also for its modular pavilion systems. ¨Developed by the Eames Office in collaboration with Barcelona-based manufacturer Kettal, It translates the Eameses’ mid-century residential experiments into something unexpectedly contemporary: a modular, prefabricated architecture kit that can be assembled, expanded and adapted. Kettal brings decades of experience inaluminum structures, climate-responsive systems, surface treatments, and modular construction–providing the technical backbone needed to translate Eames-era prototypes into a robust, contemporary product¨ say the Eames Office on the collaboration with Kettal.
The prototype of a two-story Eames Pavilion with a variety of windows, solid panels, metal staircase and a steel crossbracing detail, 2026. Photo Credit: Yosigo, Rocafort, courtesy of Kettal, 2026
The New Eames Pavilion Kit System
Inside the 2026-2027 Eames Pavilion kit system developed in partnership with Kettal who will play a vital role in production, we find aluminum frames, interchangeable panels and repeatable components offering custom layouts. The material palette of aluminium, glass and engineered wood is industrial in its asethetic – yet softened by the Eameses’ custom coloured panels allowing buyers to put their own stamp on a pavilion. The Eames´ architectural logic is now an exciting construction ready system; fully engineered and available on a global scale to enrich a modern day-to-day life.
The new system delivers functional modernism, industrial elegance and the Eameses’ idiosyncratic design style in equal measure. One key element is its capability to be configured to the clients liking, expanded, instead of treating architecture as fixed form. It can be adapted over time scaling from small pavilions to multi-storey structures in housing, hospitality and workplaces. Not a replica of their original pre-fabricated home; the design is rather an improvised set of principles they explored during the 1940s and 50s focusing on small footprint and generous volume.
¨The Eames Pavilion System is grounded in the core principles of Charles and Ray Eames’ architectural philosophy: a minimal footprint paired with maximum volume, a rational grid designed for flexibility, and an understanding of architecture as an adaptable system rather than a fixed object¨ confirms the Eames Office.
Photography by Salva Lopez. ©️2026 Eames Office, LLC. ©️ 2026 Kettal, SL.
“The new system balances Charles and Ray’s original intent with contemporary innovation. High-precision aluminum profiles, engineered decking, bioclimatic roofs, integrated lighting and HVAC, and digital configurators are modern layers added to their grammar. The goal is evolution, not stylistic reproduction.” says Antonio Navarro, Creative Director at Kettal.
Could something like this help Ibiza?
¨The system is a living expression of the Eameses ’belief that design should respond gracefully and intelligently to the way people live and work¨ says the Eames Office. Perhaps this is where precisely the architectural philosophy on Ibiza needs a shake up?
The burning question Ibiza now faces: not whether modular housing belongs on the island, but whether the island is willing to rethink what housing could be. Current housing developments and urbanizations on the island are in tune with the mega wealthy, but far less so with the key-workers who keep the island functioning year-round. In this context, a flexible modular housing system offers a more responsive solution, adapting to changing occupancy, shifting between private residence and guest use and scaling with demand throughout the year.
A view of the one-story Eames Pavilion, 2026. Starting from 16 m2, it can expanded into multi-storey configurations, shifting fluidly between domestic living, workspace, hospitality, or exhibition architecture. Photo Credit: Yosigo, Rocafort, courtesy of Kettal, 2026
Sliding screens of the Eames Pavilion, true to the original translucent Plyon screens of the Eames House, 2026. Photo Credit: Yosigo, Rocafort, courtesy of Kettal, 2026 
A row of aluminum windows with a view on the wood paneling inside The Eames Pavillion System 2026. Photo Credit: Yosigo, Rocafort, courtesy of Kettal, 2026
Since the system is being developed in collaboration with design company Kettal, who are located just across the shore in Barcelona, it places Ibiza within easy reach for sustainable delivery of the product. The modular logic feels like a perfect example of compact living, well suited to the Mediterranean landscape through its indoor-outdoor flow, lightweight structure, and adaptable shading.
In many ways, this type of poco a poco (“little by little”) home-making is what Ibiza needs. Yet while the architecture itself may not be financially out of reach, the real question is where these homes could legally and realistically be assembled. On Ibiza, land availability, planning restrictions, and infrastructure remain the true luxury, shaping a landscape where the nuance between possibility and permission defines what can — and cannot be built.
What is the cost of an Eames Pavilion House
The interesting thing about the Eames Pavilion System is that, compared to Ibiza’s property market, the actual build cost feels very reasonable. At around €2,380 per square metre, a 30 m² micro-home would come in at roughly €71,000, a 45 m² house around €107,000, and a 70 m² small family home approximately €166,000 (all before land, permits, and infrastructure). To put that into perspective, the average property price in Ibiza is around €7,000 per square metre, meaning even a small 30 m² apartment on the island could easily exceed €200,000 before renovations are even considered.
Further Reading – The Eames Houses: Charles and Ray Eames Residential Architecture
“Introducing The Eames Houses, both the exhibition and the book, in collaboration with Kettal, allows their ideas to move from the archive into contemporary living — situating their thinking firmly in the present,” says Eckart Maise, Curator of the exhibition and author on their architectural legacy.
The new book from Phaidon, The Eames Houses: Charles and Ray Eames Residential Architecture, is a must-read for architects and design lovers. It reveals how Charles and Ray Eames were not only furniture designers, but advocates for a more intelligent, sustainable, flexible, and beautiful way of living.
Perhaps the deeper meaning of the Eameses´ vision with regards to Ibiza’s housing crisis is not the architecture alone, but their mindset behind it: that good design should respond intelligently to changing human conditions rather than resist them….
