Books

Ingrid Blans and Tjibbe Knol relax outside their home, which is made of various recycled materials such as dismantled cable reels, old billboards, and broken umbrellas. Inside, a vintage shop display case exhibits a small fraction of the couple's collection of art and objects.

London creative studio Unknown Works has bookended brick infill terrace house with two semi-detached additions to provide “space for a young family’s creative pursuits, ensuring the layout could be adapted for hosting parties and intimate family gatherings.” Designed as a kit of prefabricated structural panels in spruce cross-laminated timber (CLT)—chosen as a flexible, cost-effective, sustainable material technology—the additions were assembled on-site in just four days.

This particular cabin may be done, but Castillero and Reed are just getting started. “I like the idea of working on something and tweaking and perfecting it,” says Castillero, who is now envisioning building a network for Hideouts, each iteration improving on the next to provide an even better getaway for creatives to disconnect with the world and reconnect with nature.

Thread, Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center, Sinthian, Senegal, Toshiko Mori Architect, 2015.