Cabin

Yumi (left) and Maya (right) cheese around on the steps leading into the front door. Inside, there is ample space for removing and leaving one's shoes, another Japanese element.

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

The hideaway grows darker as residents move through the space toward the bedroom. The only light in the sleeping space enters indirectly from the nearby glass façade, as well as from a small ventilation window in the northern corner.

A spacious deck was created as part of the addition. A cantilevered concrete bench stretches out to the rear garden and complements the adjacent concrete wall.

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.

Acoustic Shells (Flanagan Lawrence: Littlehampton, United Kingdom) A visual response to the sand dunes and sea near the shore, these whisper-thin concrete curves were shaped with material sprayed on mesh, measuring merely 100 millimeters in spots. The twin bell curves function as a bandstand on one side, and a larger version of a seashell on the other—it plays back the sea’s gentle rhythms.

Philip Jodidio's Cabins (Taschen, November 2014) chronicles how architects have explored the concept of a minimal, low-impact, and isolated abode. The book features photographs, illustrations, and text detailing projects from around the world.

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.