This dwelling joins a number of structures—such as a boathouse and guesthouse—owned by one family and used for vacations. They needed a new house to accommodate new generations at the reatreat.
“From the street, it appears as a rectangular building with sloping shed roofs, but this is actually an illusion,” Hutchison notes. “The floor plan is actually U-shaped, wrapping around an entry courtyard that is contained by the continuous west facade.” A standing seam metal roof by Custom Bilt Metals blends in with the cedar siding.
The solar panels on the roof often get covered in a heavy layer of snow, but with periodic clearing, they are as effective during the sunny days of winter as they are during fairer weather.
The father of architect Greg Dutton wished to build a cabin on the family farm, located within Appalachian Ohio and home to 400 heads of cattle. Dutton, of Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio-based Midland Architecture, presented this design as his father’s birthday present in 2012. Finished in 2014, the 900-square-foot cabin operates entirely off-the-grid.
Nice modern cabin
Cabins from around the world
Wheelhaus founder and CEO Jamie Mackay creates prefabs with the same quality and durability of the log cabins he grew up with, while also incorporating his values of green production and modern design. Although it takes about four months to construct his prefabricated properties, it takes about a week for the home to be delivered, and then three to five days for the house to be set up on site.
Architects Joan Soranno and John Cook of HGA developed five site-specific cabins that tread lightly on the land at Marlboro College in rural Vermont. These deceptively simple structures update the regional vernacular. Every year, Marlboro College hosts the Marlboro Music Festival in which classical musicians join together to hone their craft. These cabins help support the musicians that live, work, and rehearse together.
Cabin Nordmarka, 2006.
The site needed a path that would let residents easily ascend from the bank to the house. The architects created one by simply replicating the way they had naturally walked up the site the first time they visited. The result is a meandering trail that directs visitors to the landscape’s different features — whether a majestic Arbutus tree, a private stone beach, or a wildflower clearing.
"We did our best to tuck the buildings into the site—the goal was to get up high on a perch. It was a matter of setting that elevation and working back down with the topography," says architectural designer Riley Pratt.
“There had been two or three primitive cabins on the property in the past, which resulted in a clearing that we utilized for the site,” Joseph Herrin says. “This allowed us to avoid any further tree removal for construction, and provided an opportunity to begin to restore that portion of the property with native landscaping.”
The house may appear conventional at a glance, but a closer look shows how Oostenbruggen has pushed the boundaries of the traditional gabled typology. It has an asymmetrical roof, with slate shingles that extend down the eastern side to close it off completely.
Douglas fir walls and beams extend to the exterior of a weekend house near Golden, British Columbia. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and Bohlin Grauman Miller Architects, it was designed for an active family that likes to hit the slopes. A chalet-like pitched roof emphasizes its cabin feel.
Another of the children's bedrooms.
A look at the bathroom. “The window also gives a view out to the front garden and lets the morning sun in,” says David.
Completed in 2018 on a 2.6-acre site in the San Juan Islands, the two-bedroom modular home was installed in a day.
"It only cost about $48,000 to build, which was incredibly cheap," says Turner of the Stealth Barn. "We got the Timber Frame Company to supply the shell, then we clad it and fitted out the interior and windows ourselves. The idea was to take the archetypal black tar-painted agricultural building and make an almost childlike icon of that."
Buyers should cast as wide a net as possible in terms of location and amenities.
The kids room is outfitted with built-in bunk beds.
The wood shed portion artfully encapsulates all the domestic detritus that would be anathema within the all-glass sleeping portion.
From red painted cedar siding to no-fuss structural elements, Northworks’ solution reaches a happy medium between the classic barn look and a weekend retreat. “The best thing about this house,” explains one resident, “is that when it’s just the four of us, it feels cozy. But even when we’re hosting 25 people, it never feels crowded.”
Scandinavian architecture firm C.F. Møller designed a serene, zinc-clad home in Aarhus, Denmark. On the interior, a large, three-sided fireplace incorporated into a floating wall helps connect two spaces and warm up the home, and the wall also incorporates a purpose-designed niche filled with firewood for easy re-stoking.
Douglas fir lines the walls of the entryway. A narrow striped rug adds texture to the white-painted wooden floor from Dinesen.
This 2008 family residence actually began with a 1784 stone house, seen at the right. Located in the Catskills Mountains, the new pavilions spread out to one side to minimize their impact on the centuries-old structure. Their red hues are an intentional reference to the property's vernacular farm buildings.