Archinect - News

Modern summer home by Akb emerges from cluster of scattered islands in Ontario's Georgian Bay

2024-08-29T17:37:00-04:00

Toronto-based architecture and interior design studio Atelier Kastelic Buffey (Akb) has designed a modern cottage secluded amidst the natural beauty of Ontario’s Georgian Bay.

Image: Doublespace

The retreat is located three hours north of Toronto on a small island called Whistling Wind in a community named Pointe Au Baril. The region is defined by the expansive sky, open waters, and the many rock archipelagoes that are scattered along the coast of the Bay, forming many narrow waterways.

Image: Doublespace

The cottage comprises four pitch-roofed structures, which are each scaled proportionately to fit the island’s one-acre size. They are clad in silver-weathered cedar shingles, and, in certain light conditions, they are barely discernible from the brownish-gray rocks that surround them.

Image: Doublespace

The main cottage is at the highest elevation, and it is joined by a smaller cabin, a sauna, and a boat storage, which also contains a small fitness room. They are situated on differe...

In rural Norway, four distinct buildings come together as one to form this unique cabin

2024-07-31T17:59:00-04:00

A cabin by Norwegian architectural office Rever & Drage takes a unique form as a single unit and the combination of four distinct buildings.

Called Cabin at Troll’s Peak, the roughly 1,500-square-foot structure features local craftsmanship and regional timber spread across a connecting row of different buildings. This composition recalls a traditional row farm, in which buildings with different functions and different construction techniques are arranged in a line corresponding with the dominant direction of the wind.

Photo: Tom Auger

As detailed by the architects, the furthest north section of the cabin comprises a late medieval notching technique with large, narrowing logs. The living room is built with 19th-century notched logs, while the kitchen has slim, more modern square logs with dovetail notches. The garage is built from a local timber frame technique and clad with transparent polycarbonate.

Photo: Tom Auger

Located in a high mountain valley in Sunndal, Norwa...

In rural Ontario, a timber cabin by Dubbeldam Architecture + Design creates a ‘quiet haven in the trees’

2024-05-03T15:03:00-04:00

Toronto-based Dubbeldam Architecture + Design has offered an insight into their completed cabin in rural Ontario, Canada. Named Bunkie on the Hill and described as a “quiet haven in the trees for family members to retreat and re-connect with nature,” the cabin sits at the top of a steep slope overlooking a collection of family cottages below.

Image credit: Riley Snelling

The 1,000-square-foot cabin by the Dubbeldam team, who was recently honored at the 2024 RAIC Annual Awards as the Architectural Practice winner, sees a contemporary interpretation of the traditional A-frame shape. Inspired by overlapping layers of shale rock in the surrounding landscape, the split roof features two intersecting gables that allow for window openings where the roof volumes split.

Image credit: Riley Snelling

“These geometric windows allow for curated views of the treetops on one side and lake below on the other and invite natural light to flood the...

A look inside ANNA Stay, the World Hotel Building of the Year 2022 winner at the World Architecture Festival

2023-01-04T17:21:00-05:00

A modular, wooden cabin from Dutch designer Caspar Schols has won the World Hotel Building of the Year 2022 Award at the recent World Architecture Festival (WAF). Named ANNA Stay, the project is recognized for its sustainable design that allows its guests to reconnect with themselves and nature.

Image: Tonu Tunnel

Image: Jorrit 't Hoen

The building blends into its surrounding environment through its highly flexible design. The structure features two protective sliding shells: an inner shell comprising double glass and an outer shell made of wood. The shells can be adjusted, allowing the space to adapt to various weather conditions, moods, or occasions.

Image: Jorrit 't Hoen

In the cold, the insulated wooden shell can retain heat inside the dwelling. If it becomes too warm, inhabitants can slide and close the wooden layer to keep the coolness within. The glass layer can also be slid open to inject cool air to enter. The glass layer also invites natural light ins...

Marc Thorpe Design launches design & build agency focused on delivering affordable solar-powered homes

2022-05-03T19:51:00-04:00

NYC-based architecture and design studio Marc Thorpe Design has launched a design & build agency in New York’s West Catskills dedicated to the development of affordable solar-powered homes.

Called Edifice Upstate, the agency was formed in collaboration with local builders and green technology companies. It serves to make available, affordable, contemporary homes equipped with sustainable technology.

The initiative was driven by the increased demand for simpler, more remote lifestyles that became sought after following the pandemic. Edifice Upstate follows the development of the team’s housing concept called The Edifice, a 500-square-foot, solar-powered cabin, in 2019.

As stated by the architects: “The Edifice is an exercise in reduction, to live with only what is necessary and self-reliance.” This is evident in the home’s physical isolation and self-sustaining infrastructure. The program of the dwelling is divided into four zones: live, cook, dine, and sleep, and the systems that su...

Prefab cabins that 'disappear among the trees' designed by Canadian architects

2022-04-14T09:00:00-04:00

Québec City-based architects Bourgeois Lechasseur have completed a set of contemporary cabins in the woods near the Canadian metropolis. Titled Reflection, the two identical cabins sit on a flat clearing close to Massif Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, a popular ski resort.

Photography by Adrien Williams + Maxime Brouillet

Despite the far-reaching scenic views, the cabins seek to engage guests with a close, intimate relationship with nature, creating lodgings that would “almost disappear among the trees.” This disappearing act is centered on a completely mirror-glazed main façade reflecting the surrounding woodlands, with darkened wooden slats covering the other three sides.

Photography by Adrien Williams + Maxime Brouillet

Several design moves were made to create continuity between the interior and exterior. The entrance to each cabin has been pushed inwards, with a light pine used to clad the ceiling of both the external patio and internal spaces. The dark wood cladding from the ext...

This wooden villa offers views of a tranquil Netherlands landscape

2020-07-01T15:15:00-04:00

Designed by Amsterdam-based architects HofmanDujardin, the Villa Tonden was designed as an escape from the rush of the city. Situated in the pine woods of Tonden, Netherlands, the home is wood clad and is composed of three archetypal house-shaped forms. Each volume holds a specific zone of the program accompanied with generous glazing to allow full view of the surrounding landscape.

The entrance hall is connected to the main living space. Two large glass sliding doors open up to an east and west terrace creating connectivity between the interior and exterior environments. The master bedroom and private bathroom also utilize a large window for views to the outside and the children's bedroom houses four built-in bunk bed nooks.

Moreover, the home also has two additional guest bedrooms in the attic, both fit with a skylight, building on the design team's concept of connectivity with the outdoor surroundings.

Snøhetta completes pentagonal glue-lam hiking cabins in Norway

2020-06-22T14:36:00-04:00

After the original Tungestølen Tourist Cabin was destroyed by Cyclone Dagmar, a devastating windstorm that swept over Norway on Christmas 2011, glacier hikers lost a treasured destination. Luster Turlag, a local branch of the Norwegian National Trekking Association, and a small local village, came together to collect funds to rebuild and initiated an international design competition that Snøhetta won back in 2015.

Snøhetta's design consists of nine new cabins, each pentagonal in form, made with glue-lam frames, covered in sheets of cross-laminated timber (CLT), and clad in ore pine. The exterior facing walls of the cabins Have a beak-like shape to combat strong winds rising from the valley floor.

The main cabin houses a space designed for collective meals around various wooden tables. The highest point of the main cabin measures just under five meters, creating an expansive communal space fit with panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.

The remaining cabins contain dorms and a...

Olson Kundig's Vermont Cabin captures the essence of its surrounding landscape

2020-01-23T11:46:00-05:00

Situated within a rural Vermont landscape, amongst white pines and maple trees, this Olson Kundig-designed cabin seeks to bring a family into closer connection with one another and the surrounding forests. "This is an intentionally straightforward and economical cabin where the family can come together and take part in the adventure of engaging with the natural landscape just outside," said Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA about the project.

With a modest 750-square-foot footprint, the three level cabin combines economy and materiality with a fluid functionality. Steel, wood, and concrete articulate the structure's character and connectedness to the surrounding wilderness. The lowest level engages the site and holds the garage that also functions as a game room in addition to a bedroom and powder room; the middle level contains the main entry along with two small bedrooms and a bathroom; and the top level consists of one large living area.

"We embraced the client’s challenge of maintaining de...

Neste wants to help you build a sustainable cabin

2019-10-30T14:00:00-04:00

The Nolla Cabin is a sustainable summer cottage developed by Neste and envisioned by designer Robin Falck. The project is a part of Neste's Journey to Zero initiative that aims to push the world closer to a carbon-neutral existence. The A-frame prototype of the cabin was built in 2018 on Vallisaari island in Finland, utilizing only local materials.

In an effort to "have as small an environmental impact as possible," the cabin's energy supply came from entirely renewable sources: electricity is generated by solar panels, and the Wallas stove, used for cooking and heating, runs on a renewable diesel fuel. Nests's objective "was to prove that modern luxury experiences do not have to take a toll on the environment."

To build on this ideal, Neste is currently "organizing a competition that will allow 12 people to build their own Nolla cabins," according Sirba Tuomi, the Marketing Director at the company. Since the organization's design ethos takes into consideration the sustainable imp...

This company lets you build your dream A-frame for less than $2k

2019-06-10T13:52:00-04:00

All the blueprints and material specifications needed to put it together are included in a cardboard box. They come both on a flash drive in PDF format and printed on 36-by-24-inch sheets. The company says that the package also includes reading materials about the house, discount codes to build some of the stuff you need at providers all around the United States, as well as a door knob, a hammer, and a hat with the company logo.

A company that once sold designer trailer homes switched gears after a stalled venture to focus their attention on helping homeowners design their ideal A-frame cabin. For how much you ask? $1,950. As ideal as that sounds, one may be waiting for the catch. However, when Everywhere Inc.'s co-founder Brand Winnie left his tech job in Silicon Valley, he and his wife created Ayfraym. According to Winnie, the inspiration for creating Ayfraym came from his childhood upbringing.

Ayfraym. Image © Everywhere Inc.

"Growing up as a kid, I would always travel to our cabin that my grandpa Fred built in the ’70s,” Winnie says. “It’s up near the Tetons on the border of Idaho and Wyoming, and it’s one of my favorite places on Earth. The cabin my grandfather built was the base camp for all things adventure in the region, and it’s created some of my best memories."

If a family wanted to build a cabin similar to Ayfraym, they would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to plan out the project in a...

SHED's “Ghost Cabin” honors a historic Seattle site with a playful mystery

2018-10-17T14:15:00-04:00

SHED Architecture & Design's Ghost Cabin isn't exactly a haunted house like its name suggests. The new courtyard art installation pays tribute to a site dubbed “Grandma's House” in the Chophouse Row development in Seattle's Capitol Hill. While building the Chophouse Row in 2013, contractors unearthed the mysterious site, which revealed the foundation of a small house that was once part of a late 19th-century pioneer settlement. The contractors then nicknamed the structure “Grandma's House” because whenever the Chophouse Row ran into construction delays, they would joke that “Grandma's ghost” had returned to slow down their progress.

In 2017, Chophouse Row owner and developer Liz Dunn commissioned an art installation for the courtyard above Grandma's House that had to create a sense of community as well as respect the site's history.

Photo: Rafael Soldi.

In response to that, SHED proposed the Ghost Cabin, whose name was inspired by the Grandma's House story. While designing the artw...

This 40m2 wilderness cabin by Ark Shelter Studio offers a cozy glamping experience

2018-07-13T20:31:00-04:00

Three years in the making, this cozy wilderness cabin in Slovakia's Kysuce region looks much more spacious inside than its 40m2 size. Michiel De Backer and Martin Mikovčák of Ark Shelter Studio designed the modular getaway cabin with several large windows that help occupants reconnect with nature.

Photo: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.

Painted in a subdued shade of black on the outside, the main structure of the shelter contains a furnished kitchen space, lounging areas, and a bathroom. Next to the bathroom is a bed that can move up to the ceiling to reveal a jacuzzi underneath.

Photo: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.

Photos: Jakub Skokan and Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice.

The main area is topped with an extra module that has another bedroom, and a large rooftop...

FreelandBuck's LA edition of the world-traveling MINI LIVING Urban Cabin just opened on a Downtown Los Angeles rooftop

2018-06-07T17:49:00-04:00

The 8th Los Angeles Design Festival kicked off today with a plethora of events happening throughout the city over the next four days. One of the featured attractions appears to have fallen out of the sky and landed on the rooftop of the ROW DTLA building: MINI LIVING Urban Cabin is a site-specific installation designed by LA/NYC-based studio FreelandBuck in cooperation with MINI LIVING and will be open to visitors by day and welcome overnight guests after 10pm. The LA edition of this traveling urban cabin is the third stop around the world since its launch in 2017.

Photo: Laurian Ghinitoiu

"The Urban Cabin is a continuous installation project, a small living unit that travels to various locations across the world, adapted for each city by local architects," the project description explains. "Each variation is designed with limited space and inspired by local surroundings, demonstrating creative approaches to the challenge of saving space while creating unique ...

This glass cabin in Iceland lets you sleep under the northern lights

2018-03-22T14:03:00-04:00

Panorama Glass Lodge is a luxury vacation cabin in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Situated directly by the sea, visitors will experience stunning views of the Aurora Borealis from above and reflected off the water below. The structure features an all glass bedroom allowing travelers to experience sleeping under one of the world's most spectacular light shows.

Panorama Glass Lodge located in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Image: Panorama Glass Lodge.

This secluded cabin is the perfect viewing destination due to its removal from any light pollution.

Panorama Glass Lodge located in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Image: Panorama Glass Lodge.

If that wasn't enough to satisfy, the cabin also includes a hot tub to view the spectacle above.

Panorama Glass Lodge located in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Image: Panorama Glass Lodge.

Mountaineer's Refuge provides a home base for trekking in Chile

2018-01-04T16:04:00-05:00

Located in San Esteban, Chile, the Mountaineer's Refuge was designed by Gonzalo Iturriaga Arquitectos as a small cabin to be a point of arrival and departure for mountaineer treks. The space functions as a shelter and lookout for contemplation and relaxation and requires only the bare necessities for a mountain expedition rest stop: a roof, kitchen, bedroom, mountaineering equipment storage, and stunning panoramic views.

With a pine finished exterior, cuts and folds define the structure's access points. Mountaineer's Refuge rests on piles, making it a self-contained object suspended above the ground. The building is ventilated on all sides provided from the mountain's updraft into a series of dedicated openings.

A self-taught designer builds a secret work studio on the underside of a bridge

2017-08-15T19:54:00-04:00

Abellanas’ secret cabin replicates the childhood experience of hiding under a table or in a closet – ‘The feeling kept hidden while still being able to hear and see what happens around us,’ he says. ‘Observing passing cars and trains with no one seeing me gives me great sense of peace.’

Fernando Abellanas, a self-taught designer from Valencia has created a pop-up studio into the underside of a traffic bridge. Its metal base is moved from one side of the bridge to the other by a hand crank along rails, where a shelf, chair, and desk have been bolted to the bridge’s concrete wall. Though a practical space, the tiny moveable workspace has whimsical origins—the secret urban refuge aims to replicate the childhood experience of hiding under a table or in a closet. "The feeling kept hidden while still being able to hear and see what happens around us," explains Abellanas. "Observing passing cars and trains with no one seeing me gives me great sense of peace."

Photography: Jose Manuel Pedrajas

The cabin’s exact location is a secret, and is part of a collection of spaces Abellanas is creating. ‘The project is an ephemeral intervention, [it will remain] until someone finds it and decides to steal the materials, or the authorities remove it,’ h...

Just add a cabin: Gapahuk, a readymade cabin from Snøhetta, is designed to fit in almost anywhere

2017-05-04T13:10:00-04:00

While the gapahuk (which in Norwegian means "a simple wooden structure with two or three walls and a roof") is not new, Snohetta's conceptualization of it as a multi-terrain, potentially solar-panelled off-the-grid insta-cabin is.

The gapahuk has a purposefully tight layout to make it easy to heat and large windows to make it easy to gawk at any available scenery, and also features three bedrooms and an adaptable exterior patio to make it easy to socialize.

The twisted roof bears up equally well under punishing winds and sun, while the design calls for low maintenance materials that can usually be locally sourced. As entries in the sustainably chic category go, this rates highly (provided you have some extra land lying around on which to place it).

A cottage from a midcentury-modern fairy tale

2016-12-26T14:01:00-05:00

It takes a certain audacity to move to rural-nowhere and erect a house from found materials, to grow your own food and carve, kiln or create whatever else you need. And the house itself, in its porous approach to its natural surroundings, exhibits a typically Californian philosophy of design.

Back in November Amanda Fortini profiled The Blunk House. Designed/built by the late multidisciplinary artist-craftsman J.B. Blunk in Marin County, the cabin is a holistic expression of an artistic life.

The Alaskan cabin that grew into a Dr. Seuss tower

2016-04-11T15:12:00-04:00

As the story goes, the original owner of this unwieldy building located in Willow, Alaska built his house shortly after a forest fire with a clear view of Mount McKinley and Denali National Park. As the surrounding trees recovered, the pristine view was obscured and the owner decided to add few more stories, eventually spending a decade adding floors until it reached the 12-ish story tower you see today. Not surprisingly, locals refer to the building as the “Dr. Seuss House” [...].

The fascinating DIY architecture of these Hungarian summer houses brings back childhood memories

2015-08-18T12:38:00-04:00

One of the strangest places in Hungary lies beside the Tisza River in a village called Gergelyiugornya. Hugged by a bend in the river, it’s a relatively narrow, woody flood basin area packed with small cottages that show an incredibly wide variety of architectural designs and creativity. [...] Most of these houses were built in the 80s, when the workers of socialist Hungary were allowed to build for themselves on small plots of land.

All photos by Attila Nagy. Head over to Gizmodo to continue the architectural walking tour through Gergelyiugornya village and discover more goodies.

Tom Kundig loses lawsuit against his Washington valley cabin

2014-10-21T13:48:00-04:00

The steel structure looms large from Midge Cross and Scott Johnston's back porch. And from the beginning they say Architect Tom Kundig and his partners ignored land covenants meant to prevent any ridgeline buildings that would be visible from below. "To me it was the extended third finger," said Cross. "Like, 'Up yours, Mazama, we can put this here and the heck with you guys.'"

In the fall of 2012, Tom Kundig of Olson Kundig Architects built a private cabin on the picturesque ridge of the Methow Valley in Washington. Prior residents of the valley's Mazama community were miffed by the ruined view, and claimed that the cabin violated "protective covenants for visual consideration", established in 1987. They were joined by current property owners and sued Kundig last year. Kundig has now been ordered by the court to move the hut away from the ridgeline.

Kundig is no stranger to Washington, or off-grid cabin architecture – a native of Spokane, Kundig was educated and practices as an architect in Washington with Olson Kundig Architects, and his "Rolling Huts" offer modest camping lodges near Mazama. While Kundig hasn't offered any official comments on the case, his office did state that "Tom Kundig designed this cabin with the valley's natural elements and history as a priority. His aim has been to create a building that embodies the Pacific Northwest spirit of ...

A Cabin For Rent Inside A House

2014-08-12T14:15:00-04:00

The Brooklyn-based artist couple Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao have constructed a bed & breakfast cabin inside their own house that they rent out on Airbnb. The idea for a A Cabin in a Loft was based on the house-in-a-house concept. [...] Both micro-houses have a bed, a storage space and a semi-private garden space. The space between the structures contains a kitchen and a table for dining and working, and is further used as a combined living room by the hosts and the guests together.

Twitter installs 19th century log cabins in San Francisco HQ

2014-03-03T15:12:00-05:00

In keeping with the designer's forest-themed interior motif, a pair of homesteader cabins from the late 1800s are being installed in Twitter's new digs in the historic Western Furniture Exchange and Merchandise Mart building, a 1937 art deco landmark on Market Street. [...] In this spirit of reuse and reclamation, Lundberg saw the cabins as a novel way of breaking up the wide open spaces of a gutted floor in the old furniture mart that will become a casual dining area.

Taking architectural anachronism to a whole new level, Twitter turns the open-plan office on its head by installing original one-room wood cabins from Montana as lunching spaces. Designers for Twitter's offices feel the choice is coherent with the company values of reuse and reclamation, while also strengthening the brand's bird imagery as related to the forest/nature.

What's left behind is the sour sense of irony coating such a move. In a city fuming with affordable housing and gentrification disputes, it's a bit hilarious for Twitter to insert original homesteading-iconography into its own HQ.