Cabin

superrkül dubbed this project the Stealth Cabin because it's hidden in the landscape and will continue to recede in view over time. Photo by Shai Gil.

The House for a Musher is all about taking advantage of its hilltop site. The courtyard in the front has vast views and the house itself is oriented toward the surrounding landscape.

“We really wanted to capture the ruinous quality of this old building rather than do something overtly new,” says Greg Blee, founding partner at Blee Halligan Architects. Before construction could begin, however, he and Halligan had to patch the remaining walls using stones found in the nearby river. Wherever a wall had collapsed, the designers inserted framing to create windows and doors. For the roof, they turned to the original tiles. “My father’s terrible at throwing things away,” Blee says. “We took the tiles off 30 years ago, as it was too dangerous to have them up there. They’ve been sitting in the fields ever since, and this was our last chance to use them.”

The diagonal redwood slats and geometric structure are wonderfully accentuated by the snow bank covering the backside of the cabin.

Although not too far off the road, this home looks tucked away in its pine grove. The corrugated steel roof and vertically oriented windows keep this design from looking too much like a quintessential cabin.

The roughly 160-square-foot modules, dubbed Mini House 2.0, were built in collaboration with Swedish manufacturer Sommarnöjen, and are delivered flat-packed. The homes are painted wood, and include a shaded deck space, plus full insulation and electricity, for a price of about $29,000. The modules come in various layouts, and can be configured and combined to include a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and living space.

Subtle features incorporated into the design, including an elevated terrace and jetty, help the home float above the island.

Johnsen oriented the building vertically to minimize the amount of grading and landscaping necessary for construction.

The house's ceiling was hewn from Douglas fir, which gives off a warm glow. The rafters were designed to emulate the look of strong ceiling beams.

Large windows make the forest a constant presence indoors. A wood walkway runs along the perimeter of the house.

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.

Anka Lamprecht and Lukas Wezel shared their rustic domicile in a valley in Grotli, Norway. Boasting an enviable view, it’s the first cabin archived in the book’s “Backcountry” category that features homesteads in the wilderness.

Estate Bungalow in Matugama, Sri Lanka, by Narein Perera as published in Cabins (Taschen, 2014).

“They wanted the new cabin to make a ‘L’ shape with the older cabin, but I convinced them to mimic the old cabin on the opposite side,” architect D’Arcy Jones says. “So the new site has two buildings across from each other, like an equal sign.” Birch trees grow between the cabins in a shared courtyard.