Tag Archives: cabin design

Fancy Little French Home Has A Unique “Upside-Down” Layout Making It Seem More Spacious Than Typical Tiny Homes

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Designed by Baluchon, the Ellèbore tiny house measures 6 meters in length, and is the firm’s latest model. Baluchon is known for its experimentation with tiny homes, and its innovative designs and layouts that try to make tiny homes as spacious as possible without occupying too much space. And with Ellèbore, they’ve created a unique “upside-down” home, with the bedroom being positioned downstairs, and the upstairs section functioning as a multifunctional living room.

Designer: Baluchon

The tiny home is founded on a double-axle trailer, and it is adorned with a modern contemporary exterior, complemented by a red cedar finish and gray aluminum accenting. As you enter the kitchen, you are welcomed by a space that functions as the center of the home. It includes a small fridge/freezer, two-burner propane-powered stove, microwave, sink, and shelving. The kitchen also includes a lot of cabinetry, alongside a small wood-burning stove, and a neat storage space for cat food, toys, and wood for the fire.

The bathroom is positioned on one side of the kitchen, and it is simple but well-designed. It is amped with a shower and toilet, but no sink. On the other side of the kitchen, you have the bedroom, which can be entered via a sliding door. It is a tiny house-style sleeping area with a low ceiling, and it can seem a little tight and claustrophobic owing to its tiny doorway, and position in the downstairs section of the home. The bedroom does seem more cramped compared to the rooms found in typical tiny homes today.

The living room is located on the upper story and can be accessed via storage-integrated steps, that can be shifted if more kitchen space is needed. The living room is quite spacious with loads of headroom, and the space has generous glazing, which allows natural light to stream throughout the day. The room includes a sofa which can be converted into a double bed, that accommodates two guests. There’s also a compact home office with a desk.

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These Japanese tiny homes feature a honeycomb frame to immerse guests in nature!

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2nd Home is a series of tiny homes planned and built by Japanese startup SANU with minimal building material to immerse travelers in the wonder of nature for a quick respite from the hustle of city living.

Ever since quarantine orders were put into place, many of us turned to nature for some respite from the stress brought on by the pandemic. In response, people have escaped city living for some isolation and quietude in tiny homes across the globe.

Out of 517 people living in Tokyo’s metropolitan district, 77% have gone on record to say they’d like to spend more time in nature; getting there is half the journey, we just need a place to stay. Adding to the plethora of tiny homes to have come out in response to pandemic wanderlust, Japanese startup SANU has produced a series of tiny rentable homes called 2nd Home scattered across Japan that cost a monthly fee of ¥50,000 ($441 USD) for interested members.

In planning and constructing the collection of honeycomb timber cabins, SANU ensured a lightweight, replicable design using only a small number of building materials to get the job done. Each 2nd Home cabin is built prefabricated from 100% Japanese cedar and fastened to the site by six piles, which hardly impact the preexisting landscape. Considering the cabin’s easy assembly system, SANU built 2nd Home to be easily dismantled as well, allowing the building materials to be reused for future projects.

Entering 2nd Home from the exterior wooden deck, renters are greeted by an open-plan living room that flows into a cozy alcove kitchen. Setting the tone for the rest of the bedrooms inside the 2nd Home, the small office space and main bedrooms are tucked away in wall recesses that open up the floor space while maintaining a sense of privacy.

Throughout the home, guests can enjoy expansive views of the surrounding nature from the floor-to-ceiling windows that span 2nd Home’s front facade. While 2021 has culminated in a total of five cabins scattered across two locations, reachable from Tokyo in a speedy 1.5-3 hours, SANU hopes to erect 50 cabins across seven sites by the end of 2022.

Designer: ADX/SANU

Alcove bedrooms expand the available floor space while creating a sense of cozy privacy. 

Light and bright design elements completely open up SANU’s 2nd Home interiors. 

The concealing side facades offer guests some privacy from neighbors. 

2nd Home’s front facade feature sweeping, floor-to-ceiling windows to bring guests as close to nature as possible.

The working space is formed by an alcove as well. 

The post These Japanese tiny homes feature a honeycomb frame to immerse guests in nature! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This elevated prefab cabin has a buffer zone that helps protect it against harsh climate!

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Think of this cabin as a safehouse for when you are facing harsh weather conditions. Cara R is perched in the Andes Mountains in Southern Chile giving views of the vast parklands and nature reserves. It is the ideal destination to be immersed in nature but the area is also known for its extreme climatic conditions and that is exactly what Cara R’s design aims to guard against – nothing can stand between you and a cozy night at your cabin in the woods!

Felipe Lagos is a Chilean architect of the Santiago–based studio TuCroquis who has previously designed many local homes that take the rapidly changing weather into account. Casa R is an extension of that range, it is a modular holiday cabin residing in the middle of a lush forested site.

On the first floor, there is a woodshed and a chiflonera.” This area between the interiors and exteriors is commonly found in Chilean or Patagonian homes because it helps to regulate the extreme temperature changes that occur in that region. It features a steel frame because stell is both water and fire-resistant!

The 1,033-square-foot cabin also has a buffer zone (locally called chiflonera) which is an area between the interior and the exterior, commonly found in traditional homes there so that it can regular internal temperatures based on the harsh climate.

TuCroquis’ interior designer Ramón Vallejos furnished the cabin with a plywood kitchen, durable furniture from MueblesSur, and washable cushions that can be used both indoors and out. The kitchen area, living/dining spaces and a bathroom are all located on the first floor.

Some of the cabin’s modules have enclosed walls while others are left open for better connection to the outdoors. “The cabin is elevated from the ground and has slopes on the terraces and two floors. The slopes blend with the natural terrain and help reduce costs in foundations. The roof also has a steep slope to protect it from snowfall in the winter,” explains Lagos. The minimal design doesn’t fully express Casa R’s durability but I would love to see it integrate more sustainability or clean energy in its design considering it is all about preserving ecosystems.

Designers:: Felipe Lagos (architecture) and Ramón Vallejos (interior)

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This Japanese A-frame structure looks like a cozy Ghibli movie home got a modern yet minimal makeover!

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Japanese architecture is the epitome of minimalism and warmth, especially when it takes shape as an A-frame cabin. The Japanese culture and lifestyle have many deep-rooted practices about reducing waste, using only what you need, and living with essentials but not necessarily without luxury. All of these elements are seen in Hara House, an A-frame cabin that is all about minimizing your footprint, being efficient, and using as little material as possible. It was designed for a young couple who wanted a new home in a small agricultural village about four hours north of Tokyo that would restore the fading communal connection that they were witnessing.

Hara House is built out of 5-inch square timbers set 6 feet apart. A tent-like white steel rooftop the home mixes private spaces with a semipublic, open-air living and dining area – a stiff, yet giving structure that assimilates all human behaviors. “The estate already contained an assemblage of buildings and farmland that depended on one another. Our design direction was to create a home that revitalized these on-site structures and had the potential to adapt to new functions as the need or mood changed,” explains architect Takayuki Shimada.

The A-frame structure draped over a rectangular interior volume was the solution to create that semi-public space the couple desired. A set of parallel glass doors in the central living/dining room allows air to flow through the home and connect the residents with neighbors passing along the adjacent street. Instead of a traditional self-reliant building, Hara House is a space where workshops, meetings, and events can spill out onto the land and open the home to the village.

Two parallel pitches expose the central living and dining room to the outside air via sliding glass doors. The low openings give the impression of a tent that’s been propped up to reveal what’s going on inside and is reminiscent of older Japanese architecture. An open space on one side of the structure serves as an entrance and an informal gathering spot for the community while the covered, veranda-like spaces on both sides provide shady areas to sit and relax. The heart of Hara House is the large living/dining area that simple radiates warmth!

At one end of the first floor, a small bedroom and a bathroom create a private living area for the family. There is a loft area above that features a cozy workspace. The sleeping zone is on the first floor which has a spacious master bedroom. Interiors feature minimalist shelves for storage and a large pane of glass brightens the space as well as the loft above. Hara House’s high ceiling creates the traditional tent-like vibe, while the raised platform serves as seating as well as additional storage space.

“We started our design by conceptualizing the building as incomplete. The home should invite people from the village to utilize it, thus becoming part of the community. By establishing this type of architecture, with its blank canvas, a space is born that establishes itself as an attraction of interest and activity,” says Shimada. Hara House looks like a house from a Ghibli movie but with a modern makeover that doesn’t strip the magic from a wooden A-frame structure. It is reminiscent of a glowing lantern in the night that welcomes the community into a safe space.

Designer: Takeru Shoji Architects

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This tiny cabin floats above the forest’s sloping hills to preserve the natural landscape and preexisting trees!

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With its exterior constructed from only one building material, Cabin Moss is a tiny cabin built by Béres Architects located in the woods of Kőszeg, Hungary where it floats above a sloping terrain on a collection of thin stilts.

Some tiny cabin designs try to make up for their small size with ornate interiors and versatile, expanding bedrooms. Then, there are the tiny cabins that let their small size take the spotlight, leaving the interiors at their most elemental and functional. Béres Architects, a firm based in Budapest, recently finished work on Cabin Moss, a tiny home of about 40m2 propped up on a collection of narrow stilts that work to not disrupt the preexisting landscape and lot of trees and plants.

When building Cabin Moss, the architects at Béres would return to the old proverb, “Measure twice, dig once.” Designed by Attila Béres and Attila Hideg, Cabin Moss seems to float atop an area of untouched forest ground, one of many choices made to preserve and respect the natural world that surrounds the cabin.

Describing the home’s stilt-based foundation, the architects at Béres note, “Thin stilts are carefully located so that we could keep and protect the roots of the surrounding trees. No need for any excavation or filling with machines that ruin the natural context. The structural system of the house had been created so that it offers some flexibility for this effort at realization.”

Appearing as if perching from the gradual incline of the hills it rests atop, Cabin Moss forms a cross-section and breaks down into two right angles that face each other, providing some dynamic contrast with the natural sloping landscape.

Forming an irregular shape in its entirety, the shape and location of Cabin Moss were specifically chosen to ensure that tall windows could be placed on both ends of the structure. With only two windows, the expansive glass panes provide a gateway into the outside world, while the lack of windows found on the cabin’s longer facades keeps the majority of the interior cozy with warm, golden light.

In a sweeping effort to remain small from all sides, Béres Architects ensured that Cabin Moss could be constructed from a single material, with no leftovers and no wasted space. Taking their sustainability efforts one step further, Béres Architects also outfitted Cabin Moss with electric elements like heating and hot water, taking the environment’s natural climate into account to equip Cabin Moss with its own microclimate.

Designer: Béres Architects

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This cabin in the woods is actually a waterside apiary that aims at education & conservation of bees!

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This lakeside apiary in Newt, Somerset has been designed to provide a home for the bees while creating an immersive educational experience. Called Beezantium, it draws on the long tradition of pavilions that evoke a sense of whimsy and playfulness – almost like a cabin in the woods full of speaking bees! Beezantium was built with a careful range of design considerations to serve and exhibit the hive in an organic yet fun way.

Beezantium occupies a former unused wasteland that has been transformed into a natural expanse, so while this waterfront property might have been cheap with the right design and purpose it’s now prime! The wooden structure is topped by a sloping roof that is wrapped in copper shingles which creates a jewel-like effect that also acts as a beacon in the woodland surroundings, drawing visitors towards the structure. It looks like a cozy cottage right out of a storybook.

The huge picturesque window invites people to explore the internal workings of the space, while also offering views out over the lake and trees beyond. The cabin is clad in oversized timber panels which distort the sense of scale of the pavilion as you get closer. The outside walls are made up of unseasoned oak because it is perfect for bees as they can enter the hive through natural holes or via a series of copper pipes that have been built into the fabric of the structure.

When you enter the space, you realize that the traditional concept of the folly is turned on its head. The interior features polished honey oak which provides a rich and warm atmosphere to enjoy the exhibit and the bees themselves. Two oculi are set into a lofty ceiling, providing much-needed light and natural ventilation for the space below. Beezantium is different because usually apiaries are usually contained in a glass box in the middle of the room but by pushing it to the edges, it was possible to create an educational showcase in collaboration with Kossmanndejong which is an Amsterdam-based design agency that focuses on the exhibition and interior architecture.

“The Beezantium has been designed to provide a sensory, otherworldly experience. It appears jewel-like, quirky, and playful – almost like a folly in a landscape with a glowing copper roof, but instead of being only about pleasure, the Beezantium is a purposeful building designed to house bees in observation hives in the external walls, that can be viewed in a range of habitats internally. There is a huge extraordinary interactive and immersive exhibit that describes the world from the bee’s perspective, that is hung from the ceiling and contained within a honeycomb structure, enabling visitors to understand bees and their place in the world,” says Piers Taylor, Director of Invisible Studio.

All elements, shapes, and colors have been designed to represent bees. My personal favorite is the bright cocoon seating which probably makes you feel like a bee in a hive yourself! Beezantium has a whimsical vibe with a purpose – it aims to conserve and educate people through the medium of design, architecture, and interior which is all centered around bees while making humans feel welcome but also reminding them of the larger picture without the gloom-and-doom tactic.

Designer: Invisible Studio

This oddly-shaped Finnish cabin was made with cross-laminated timber to withstand subarctic cold!

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This cabin in the woods is an otherworldly, all-black, geometric structure built to provide cozy refuge even in harsh Finnish winters. It was designed for a California-based CEO who returned home to Finland with her family to be closer to her ancestral land so she could maintain it. The cabin is aptly named Meteorite based on its unique shape and is set in a clearing surrounded by spruce and birch trees. The cabin is made entirely from cross-laminated timber (CLT) which is a sustainable alternative to other construction materials.

The three-story home is built entirely from 272 prefabricated panels of cross-laminated, locally sourced timber—a sustainable material that lends itself to digital design methods and follows the Finnish tradition of timber construction. Air gaps of various sizes behind the facade keep the interior warm without conventional insulation, even during Finland’s freezing winters, and give the Meteorite its out-of-this-world shape.

Inspired by the Ice Age rock formations found throughout the region, the Meteorite is a faceted dwelling designed by Kivi and Tuuli Sotamaa, the brother-and-sister duo behind Ateljé Sotamaa. They designed the faceted structure as a guest house for the family, although during the pandemic it has served also as an office for, a recording studio, and an after-school playroom for children.

The Meteorite’s black-tinted exterior provides a stark contrast to the warm, all-wood interior. “Everything on the outside is designed to dramatically stage the inside,” says Kivi. “It’s a mysterious object, and you don’t quite know what is going on within.” Part of the mystique lies in the deceptive nature of its size—the interior spans only 807 square feet of floor space, yet its total volume is 10,594 cubic feet.

Its envelope contains no plastic or insulation; it’s simply two sheets of wood, and the air gap in between them helps to regulate indoor temperature even when the subarctic climate outside drops to single digits in winter. The “between space,” as Ulla describes it, also hides storage and the building’s technical systems, preserving the minimalist feel of the interior.

The Meteorite’s interior is clad in spruce from floor to ceiling, and all the furniture for the living areas were hand-selected works by Finnish designers that the couple picked out themselves. The dining area features a built-in corner sofa designed by Ateljé Sotamaa with slipcovers and pillows by Klaus Haapaniemi & Co – a local artistic brand with works inspired by traditional Finnish folklore.

The Meteorite was originally envisioned as a guesthouse, but with the pandemic keeping them at home, it now serves as a more permanent, multipurpose space for the family. The traditional separation of work and home has disappeared, and it’s beautiful that they are merged within this single building.

My favorite part of the home – and I’m sure also the kids’ – is the giant net on the top floor. It ties the home together visually while adding connectivity without having to be in the same space. It is also extremely well light thanks to the multiple windows and skylights that are placed on unconventional angles because of the unique shape of the cabin.

The warm wooden interior complements the black timber exterior very well. The cabin is a beautiful blend of Finnish and Scandinavian elements in the finer details as well as the overall aesthetic which is minimal and monochromatic. Meteorite is an elegant picture example of modern architecture and interior that has been woven together with local traditions, simplicity, and sustainability.

Designer: Ateljé Sotamaa

This cabin in the mountain foothills is inspired by the flight patterns and nesting habits of skylarks!

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Skylark Cabin, a 50sqm residence located in the foothills of New Zealand’s Ben Ohau mountain range was inspired by the flight and song of skylarks.

We have birds to thank for our best designs. Their songs and nests have tugged our heartstrings for centuries. Often, birds’ natural instinct leads to the most formidable and elaborate nests. In Twizel, New Zealand, skylarks have a particular pull over the town’s residents. Just below Twizel’s Ben Ohau mountain range, skylarks soar and hover above their on-ground nests in the open skies with song and carefully orchestrated flights. In an ode to the skylark’s “distinctive aerial display” New Zealand architect Barry Connor designed the Skylark Cabin.

Following their client’s brief for a simple retreat made from honest materials, it’s no surprise that the skylark’s singing and nesting habits inspired Connor. As birds construct their nests using local materials from as near or far as their wings will take them, Connor used the surrounding landscape to decide Skylark Cabin’s makeup and design.

Similar to the skylark’s grassy, on-ground nest, Skylark Cabin, cloaked in rough sawn larch timber rain-screen, pokes a gently pitched, yet angular roof just above the sloping grasslands. Acclimating to the prairie’s harsh, windy conditions and radical temperature shifts, Skylark Cabin’s rain-screen cladding was chosen for its year-round durability.

Amidst the dark stained exterior, bright burnt orange window frames and beams lead the gaze towards the home’s front facade where they’re, “poised to accommodate the purposefully framed views of the mountains and the stars that throughout the day or night provide interest, perspective, and scale,” as Connor puts it.

Inside, the different windows are also aptly positioned to provide the best views of the skylarks’ skies. Connor built in a skylight just above the main bedroom, bringing views of the protected Mackenzie Aoraki Dark Sky Reserve as well as skylark-ridden daytime skies before the night show.

The skylark’s grassy, on-ground nest is characteristic of Twizel’s prairie lands for its lack of trees. Evoking the feeling of being completely nestled and immersed in Twizel’s grasslands, Connor paneled Skylark Cabin’s interior in light Beech plywood, “[reflecting] the warm cream tones of the exterior and [blurring] the threshold with the tussock grassland [to capture] the feeling of being nestled right in the landscape.” Connor reinforces this primitive inspiration with a sense of protection through black-edged plywood ribbing details that serve to cradle the home’s wild beginnings and beech-soaked interior.

Designer: Barry Connor

This tiny cabin built from local trees incorporates a blend of Scandinavian and Japanese design elements!

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The Nook is a tiny cabin located in the woods of North Carolina’s Appalachia designed with Scandinavian, Japanese, and Appalachian handcrafted elements to weave local craftwork together with a personal history.

As summer draws to a close, winter is coming and so are the snowy getaways. While there’s something to be said about the slow summer days spent at a family cabin by the lake, cozying up beside a fireplace inside a log cabin somewhere in the woods where there’s snow and a hot cup of tea is still unmatched. In the Appalachian forest of Swannanoa, North Carolina, Mike Belleme, an established documentary photographer, felt inspired to devise his own wintry tiny cabin called The Nook.

Brimming with artisanal goods and artwork of local craftsmen and artists, The Nook was designed to bring the handcrafted touch of the old world into the modern era. Described as a “collection of stories,” Belleme designed The Nook to link his personal history to the surrounding forest and architecture of the cabin.

The tiny cabin is constructed from a collection of locally felled trees that Belleme memorized during a five-year stint spent in the Appalachian woods, during which he learned primitive building skills like creating a path of hand-split logs that leads to The Nook’s front entrance.

The timber that gives rise to The Nook varies between white oak, red oak, black walnut, and black locust all to mirror the trees that surround the tiny cabin. The different gradients of woodwork distinguish the rooms of the cabin. Contained within a mere 400-square-meters, The Nook’s living areas are combined into one and present as a single open volume, with the different rooms demarcated by shifting shades of timber. Where the living room expresses dynamic energy with lofty ceilings and cherry wood paneling, the kitchen keeps a more subdued profile achieved with an intimate breakfast nook wainscot in black walnut.

Striking a balance between different interior design cues and movements, Belleme describes The Nook’s design as a marriage between Japanese, Scandinavian, and Appalachian aesthetics. Just above the stripped-back kitchen, Belleme included a Japanese-inspired tea loft in tribute to his parents’ own living period in Japan, who moved on to launch one of America’s first Miso companies.

Every element of the home embodies a sense of minimalism, craftwork, and earthiness, weaving together Belleme’s personal history that brought him from the tea rooms of Japan to the felled trees of North Carolina. Describing the tiny cabin in his own words, Belleme notes on The Nook’s Airbnb listing, “This house is a collection of stories. Stories of cultural and personal history, ecology, and craft. To celebrate this area’s incredible legacy of craft, we’ve collaborated with some of the most talented makers in the region.”

Designers: Mike Belleme

Darker wooden planks line the floors of The Nook while brighter timber coats the ceilings. 

The Nook’s rear deck was also built by hand. 

The Nook maintains an open interior space by incorporating elements like ladders that bring you from the ground-level living area to upstairs bedrooms. 

An outdoor semi-enclosed bath provides the perfect spot to unwind beneath the tree’s canopies. 

This nontraditional A-frame style cabin blends classic and modern design elements for an inspired new look!

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Pisqal is a small, bilevel concept residence envisioned on the beach and inspired by the traditional A-frame cabin, hosting a myriad of classic and contemporary design elements that give Pisqal its distinct, alternative look.

Usually with A-frame cabins, what you see is what you get. From the outside, an A-frame cabin’s general floor plan can be figured out with few surprises. There’s a cozy appeal found in the familiarity and simplicity of A-frame cabins. Borrowing the A-frame cabin’s traditional shape and charming feel, architects Yaser Rashid Shomali and Yasin Rashid Shomali from Shomali Design Studio conceptualized an inventive A-frame cabin called Pisqal that incorporates abstract structural elements, giving the traditional cabin a contemporary twist.

Split evenly between two floors, Pisqal comprises around 70-square-meters in area, forming a cubic frame that backdrops the cabin’s A-frame style eaves. The designers behind Pisqal chose a cubic frame to border the cabin’s A-frame style eaves to create more interior space. Inside the cabin, the Shomali designers gave the home an open-floor layout, with the living areas contained to the first floor and the main bedroom occupying the entire top floor. With such an open-air layout, quirky design elements were incorporated like a ladder that replaced a traditional staircase, bringing residents from the cabin’s ground floor to its loft bedroom.

Envisioned on a beach, even the location of Pisqal challenges the A-frame cabin and brings it into a new light. Following the open feel throughout the house, Shomali Design Studio squared each room off with floor-to-ceiling glass windows that bring guests up close and personal to the outdoor seaside views. Interior design elements like white linen curtains and unfinished wooden walls also help to brighten up each room, collecting pools of natural sunlight that pour in through the glazed windows.

Designer: Shomali Design Studio