Cabin

Claesson Koivisto Rune's Plus House took 40 days to build: 20 in the factory and 20 onsite. CKR's mode of prefabrication is about not building modules but panels: Girders, walls and trusses are assembled before delivery. Finding a vacant lot in Stockholm isn't easy; though not so central, this plot has fresh air and estuary views.

Architect Jesse Garlick’s rural Washington vacation home references its rugged surroundings. The steel cladding has developed a patina similar to the ochre-red color of bedrock found in the area.

Girodo describes LEAPfactory’s architecture as being “molded according to the needs and stresses imposed by context.” In this setting, strong winds and snow loads are serious concerns. The shell’s composite sandwich panels and aluminum shingles ensure that the school can withstand the elements.

Sea Ranch Cabin

The living room is furnished with vintage items, including a leather-and-chrome chair by Suekichi Uchida and a stacking stool by Florence Knoll.

For Gabriel Ramirez and his partner Sarah Mason Williams, following the Sea Ranch rules—local covenants guide new designs—didn’t mean slipping into Sea Ranch clichés. The architects love Cor-Ten steel, with its ruddy and almost organic surface, and they made it the main exterior material, along with board-formed concrete and ipe wood. The Cor-Ten, which quickly turned an autumnal rust in the sea air, and the concrete, with its grain and crannies, mean the house isn’t a pristine box, Ramirez says. His Neutra house “was very crisp and clean,” he says. “This house is more distressed, more wabi-sabi.”

Mid-century designer Jens Risom's A-framed prefab family retreat, located on the northern portion of Block island, is bordered by a low stone wall, an aesthetic element that appears throughout the land.

At just 350 square feet, this remote cabin with a view for the Sol Duc River sits on stilts to protect it from flooding and the dampness of the northwestern rainforest. Its shutters can be operated manually by custom steel rods.

The family retreat abuts a rocky cliff in Herfell, Norway. The central cabin provides communal living spaces, while the two cabins that flank it are used as private sleeping quarters.

A Norwegian boathouse. Photo Courtesy of Pasi Aalto / TASCHEN #cabin #boathouse