Tag Archives: Timber

This prefab tiny home is made sustainably from cross-laminated timber & gives major Japandi vibes!

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Prefabricated architecture minimizes construction waste, reduces carbon footprint, and has a quicker turnaround than a traditional home. Minima is a 215-square-foot (20-square-meter) prefab module designed to be a flexible structure to serve as a standalone tiny home or as an additional unit in the backyard that can be used as a home office or spacious guest house. It is constructed with CLT (cross-laminated timber) which is a sustainable material and cuts down on the carbon emissions that concrete produces. The modern micro-home is giving me major Japandi vibes!

The boxy exterior is clad with a skin of cypress battens and a steel roof which maintains its minimal look. The unit has a streamlined, modern profile that still feels warm and human-centric. The facade opens up with hardwood-framed glass doors that can slide over to reveal its Scandinavian and Japandi-inspired interior. It can be partially closed off with a hardwood-encased screen door or a translucent curtain.

Australian studio TRIAS designed the unit in collaboration with prefab manufacturer FABPREFAB. The aim was to not only make architecturally designed homes more accessible and affordable but to make prefabs more widely appealing. “We did a lot of research into the Australian and overseas markets. In Australia, the emphasis tends to be on low cost, whereas in Europe the emphasis is on quality and longevity. This aligns perfectly with the philosophy of our practice. We wanted to create something consciously good quality, but also to explore how to make a prefab house not look like a prefab,” says Jennifer McMaster, Director of TRIAS.

Minima doesn’t need a concrete foundation and instead uses a special type of ground screw that can ease relocation if necessary which heavily reduces the impact on the construction site’s surroundings. Since it is a modular design, you can add an extra module in a T-formation to double the area. The impressive prefab home could fit almost anywhere there might be open space creating more opportunities to build accessible and affordable communities that can be scaled.

The compact floor area is divided into various zones that group different functions together. For instance, “wet” areas like the kitchen and bathroom are on one side of the micro-house while the living and sleeping areas are concentrated into one flexible zone in the center of the home.





The interior walls, ceiling, and floor are covered with lots of cross-laminated timber (CLT) – a sustainable engineered wood product that involves layers of fast-growth timber that are glued perpendicular to each other, resulting in a structurally robust and fire-resistant material that not only looks good but is also perfect for prefabrication.





Everything in the home has been intentionally made to look seamless.”Keeping all the joints and lines as simple and seamless as possible is important in a small space. We’ve lived in tiny apartment spaces, so we know how critical those lines are in making a space feel larger,” adds Jonathon Donnelly, Director at TRIAS.





In the living area, there is plenty of built-in furniture to help save maximize space, like this integrated seating bench, which also has storage space tucked below and above. Right in the center, there’s a wall-to-floor cabinet that actually has a bed, table, and shelving integrated inside. During the day, the bed can be folded away, and a multifunctional table pulled out for eating or working on. At night, the bed can be pulled down to reveal a sizeable queen mattress, as well as lighting and storage behind.





The kitchen features a pared-down countertop that has all the essentials of the sink, stove, oven, range hood, concealed refrigerator, and plenty of storage. Cross-ventilation is helped along with the addition of another small door off to the side of the kitchen, and which also functions as a secondary entrance. There is a bathroom behind the kitchen and past a pocket door. The slate-gray tiles, in combination with the CLT cabinets, create a soothing, calming atmosphere, lit with help of a skylight over the shower.





“Something that’s always stuck with us is a finding from a 2018 Grattan Institute report into Australian cities: ‘The quickest way to double density is to add something small to every existing block.’ Small insertions can help retain the suburban character while adding enormously to social cohesion and housing,” says the team and that wonderful sentiment is what we need right now to guide us away from skyscrapers and towards sustainable architecture.

Designer: TRIAS

This wooden tiny house on wheels is designed to get you closer to nature while being sustainable!

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The pandemic has certainly made some of us want to leave behind the bustling city life we know and move into a tiny house. Why? Well, it is more affordable for first-time homeowners, it has a lower carbon footprint, and you can pick your views while staying socially distant from crowded cities! The tiny house movement is here to stay and Rast is another glimpse into its future. The 174-square-foot home on wheels is designed to immerse you in nature while pushing sustainable architecture as an accessible lifestyle choice merging your cabin-in-the-woods with a home to live in long-term.

Designed by David and Jeanette Reiss-Andersen of Oslo-based Norske Mikrohus, Rast is a modern tiny home clad in dark-stained Norwegian spruce. It is constructed with Nordic weather conditions in mind – the roof can withstand heavy snowfall and the walls incorporate thick insulation made of wool, glass, and aluminum – all sustainable materials. On sunny winter days, occupants can stay warm and comfortable inside while still feeling tied to the outdoors. “The large window in the shower really puts you in touch with the natural surroundings,” David says.

Rast is clad in local timber because Norwegian spruce is light and weather resistant. It is also super lightweight which makes it easier for the team to set up the home in dense or remote areas and since it has wheels means it doesn’t leave any footprint. It has large windows and glass double doors that swing open and tie the interior to the outdoors while bringing flooding the space with natural light.

The dark-stained wood was purposely chosen for the exterior so it can seamlessly blend with the landscape. “Much of our inspiration came from the Norwegian hills, fjords, mountains, and lakes – our tiny home concept is based on being able to live in nature without interfering with it,” says Jeanette

The interior walls and ceiling feature a pale birch veneer and vinyl flooring both showing natural wood grain. The living area has a built-in convertible table and daybed to keep the space open. “The birch veneer has a beautiful glow when oiled,” comments David.

The living room daybed converts to a bed when it’s time to sleep. A built-in table at the foot of the bed folds in and can be used as a nightstand or shelf. “During the day, it works as a sofa and features a small built-in table that folds out and offers a place to enjoy a meal and the view,” adds the designer duo.

The secondary sleeping area, which is arranged with bunk beds, can accommodate up to four people. A small table pulls out from the foot of the lower bunk bed and offers a second compact dining area.

The bath and a secondary sleeping area, equipped with bunk beds, are arranged at one end of the open-plan kitchen.

A sculptural, built-in ladder leads to the upper bunk, and the bathroom lies next door.

The large bathroom features an open shower, a large window, and an incinerating toilet.

For storage, there are hidden drawers and shelving into built-in furniture pieces. Storage shelves can be found beneath the surface of the pull-out table and the living room daybed lifts up to reveal two large drawers tucked beneath it. The can hold anything from bedding to luggage and hiking equipment.

“We created Rast for anyone who wants to experience the outdoors close up, and in a sustainable way,” says David when talking about the compact wooden structure. It has all the appliances and systems you need if you plan to live a remote or an off-the-grid lifestyle.

David and Jeanette believe that tiny homes offer the ideal way to travel sustainably. They’re affordable, require less maintenance, and don’t harm the surroundings like their commercial counterparts. Rast builds on the minimalist trend and appeals to environmentally conscious people who want the freedom that comes with traveling and living sustainably – best of both worlds can be that simple!

Designer: Norske Mikrohus

This wooden treehouse is constructed without a tree to minimize environmental impact & maximize adventure!

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Normalize adults living and chilling in treehouses because we are certainly going through a lot more than children and this is the escape we need! Cassiopeia is one such shelter that every grown-up dreams of having, it is a treehouse that was born in a garden without a tree for us to disconnect from the virtual world. It has multiple levels, a fire-man pole, a slide, a swing, a zip-line, a net bed, monkey bars and a climbing wall in sculptural form with legs that grow in the garden!

It has utmost privacy and was constructed with a very low impact on the territory. Cassiopeia is a playground for kids at its core but has been designed to provide the same nostalgia and whimsy for adults too. It seeks to touch the ground lightly through clever architectural design and woodworking which also ensures that it is durable and environmentally sustainable.

The contemporary treehouse aims to blend into its surroundings while providing a sanctuary for adults and kids to escape the monotony of everyday life. Especially since the pandemic, people are avoiding public spaces which restrict outdoor activities but Cassiopeia brings that adventure back to your backyard!

Cassiopeia, in astronomy, is a constellation of the northern sky easily recognized by a group of five bright stars forming a slightly irregular W. The multi-level playground is a privileged place to watch the complexity of the universe through the telescope lens.

The foundation of the treehouse is the invisible metal ground screws that give support to columns and beams. “At the top of it, we built the skeleton (interior frame) that receives the skin (walls and roof) that are built with CLT panels painted black that receive a horizontal slatted wood system that follows the treehouse shape,” adds the team.

This project highlights Madeiguincho’s combined heritage of both architecture and carpentry. The Portugal-based studio retains the charm of a traditional treehouse with the warm wooden aesthetic but brings modern architecture into play without needing a tree in the first place. The angular shape, systems for multiple activities, large windows and doors truly encourage us to take a break, play and bring back the innocent joy from our childhood.

Designer: Madeiguincho

This greek mythology-inspired Temple built entirely from timber was designed to be burned at Burning Man!

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The Temple to Burning Man is like Apple to Silicon Valley–it’s what it’s known for. At Burning Man, a nine-day desert gathering, the Temple is burned to the ground in total silence on the eighth and final night. While the Temple functions as a non-denominational, spiritual gathering space for Burning Man’s attendees, it represents a blank canvas for people to leave objects and words behind to be burned. Fernando Romero Enterprise (FR-EE), a New York and Mexico City-based architecture firm, revealed Holon Temple, an all-timber, spherical structure that’s designed to be burned.

The timber structure features interior replica altars with surrounding steps/stairs where festival-goers can reflect and meditate before the Temple burns to the ground. Each year, a new Temple is burned in Black Rock Desert, Nevada, where Burning Man is held and each year, the Temple represents something new. The wooden globe developed by FR-EE was named Holon Temple after Greek philosophy. Holon expresses that something is whole in and of itself as well as a part of a larger whole.

At Burning Man, wooden structures are designed to be burned as part of the festival’s spiritual mission. Describing the inspiration behind Holon Temple, FR-EE notes, “It can be conceived as systems nested within each other. Every entity can be considered a holon, from a subatomic particle to the entire Universe. In the design concept for our proposal, the temple represents itself as the multiverse, a group of nested universes, a holon.” Similar to the grids of latitudinal and longitudinal lines on globes, Holon Temple is built on 48 “latitudinal” trusses and 34 “longitudinal” wooden beams, a number representative of the years Burning Man has existed.

From the outside, Holon Temple really does appear like a globe, a microcosmic model of Earth in the Black Rock Desert. The curvilinear trusses and globular structure of Holon Temple are symbolic of perfect order in the Universe and the Temple stands as a whole in and of itself, in addition to being part of a larger whole. On the eighth night of Burning Man, either the entire Temple or a miniature replica inside of Holon Temple would be burned. As the interior altar burns, the smoke would rise through the Temple’s cluster of compression rings, symbolizing the inevitable return of parts to a whole.

Designer: Fernando Romero Enterprise (FR-EE)

 

 

As part of their bid for a spot at Burning Man, the environmental impact and give back had to be calculated.

This micro resort in remote Finland is made from three prefab tiny timber cabins!

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How many people wish they had their own little retreat? Studio Puisto has developed a new, modular accommodation that it believes would make it easier for people to open a small, sustainable resort anywhere.

The Helsinki-based architecture firm designed its new, prefab units in collaboration with nature tourism entrepreneur Kari Vainio and installed the first prototype in the forest of Hyvinkää, Finland. One U-shaped, 1,205-square-foot Uni Villa, as the design is called, consists of two studio units along with a larger suite. Each unit comes with a keyless check-in system and readymade furniture. Uni means “dream” in Finnish; as such, Studio Puisto wants other aspiring hospitality entrepreneurs to be able to realize their dreams of running their own micro-resorts.

This first Uni Villa is tucked into Kytäjä Golf, which won the title of Best in Finland in 2020. Two courses designed by Canadian golf course architect Thomas McBroom are set in an unusual natural forest and lake environment. Kytäjä Golf is only 45 minutes from the Helsinki airport.

The prefabricated, U-shaped blocks can be delivered via standard truck and are designed to sit on a compact foundation. The dark exteriors feature cross-laminated timber to blend into the forested areas. “The cladding is treated with a breathable and ecological dark oil stain that creates uniformity with the environment,” architect Sami Logren told Dwell. The designers created distinctly different looks for the suite versus the studios. The suites are furnished in dark wood and earthy textiles, while studio décor is much lighter in color. Both borrow their palettes from the natural world, with neutral furniture and gray, stone-like bathroom tiles.

Indeed, the architects strove for comfort and accessibility to nature while blending in with the forested surroundings. “Sustainability and a low environmental impact are key values in our design process,” Logren said. “These values correlate with the current state of how people want to connect with nature to gain calm.”

Designer: Studio Puisto

This tiny home crafted from timber can be attached to your car for the ultimate flexible lifestyle!

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The universal mood after this pandemic has been to be able to travel, to explore unpopular locations, and to embrace remote work so you can travel for longer time periods. Keeping all of these wishes in mind, Ecuador-based Jag Studio designed La Casa Nueva – a timber camper that is also a fully functional tiny home so you can set up your base anywhere.

It includes a bed, a roof, workstations, a kitchen, and a bathroom making it a comfortable shelter for two people. The design team led by juan alberto andrade and cuqui rodríguez built the little retreat for themselves to meet the demands of their life on the road, photographing architecture across ecuador. With its compact size and mobility, jag studio’s ‘la casa nueva’ is able to stay for short periods of time in different locations and with different configurations. It aims to be forever new — to be perceived or experienced depending on its temporary site. Thus, its surrounding context will inform its form.

With ‘la casa nueva’ camper, jag studio reinterprets the material and shape of typical house along the ecuadorian coast, both on an experimental and on a primitive level. A wooden gabled structure raised from the floor. La casa nueva is made 100% with artisan craftsmanship. While the outer shell is built with yellowheart lumber, teak boards are used for the structural frame, and plywood boards for the interior furniture elements. The structure rests on a metal trailer measuring three by two meters (around 10 by 6.5 feet) which is secured with metal plates.

The outer skin of jag studio’s camper has different opening configurations and can take on a range of forms — beginning from a completely enclosed and sealed wooden shell to a permeable place that is integrated with nature, providing an effect of great spatial capacity. The interior space is divided into five parts conditioned by the structural modulation of the six frames every two feet that divide the project according to its function. The first two out of the five modules correspond to the raised bed and storage, the third module to a flexible dining and desk space, and the fourth and fifth to a corridor and service area including a kitchenette and bathroom.

Designer: JAG Studio

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This sustainable cabin’s middle floor has a giant net & it will be energy self-sufficient in the future!

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We all love the traditional A-frame mountain cabins but NEW HOW Architects has given that a modern twist with their latest project – Weekend House Nové Hamry! The Czech studio was asked to design a holiday home in the Ore Mountains and whatever it ended up being, it had to be a stark contrast to the white-plaster houses in the area. Delivering on their promise, this cabin is a half A-frame, modern, dark structure that was inspired by nature. The team’s idea was to design a house that would look “as if it has been swallowed up by the forest instead of standing out in the landscape” while also minimizing its environmental footprint.

The architectural CMF for the cabin has been inspired by the spruce trees that surround it, so there are a lot of shades of gray and dark green. Weekend House Nové Hamry features connection points for solar panels and vertical wind turbines to make it energy self-sufficient. The roof and most of the exterior are covered in durable, anthracite-colored aluminum cladding. This resembles oiled black wood and adds to the minimal, modern, elegant aesthetic of the cabin. The area gets a lot of heavy snow so to manage the load, the angular design also features a steeply sloped roof. The structure is constructed from cross-laminated timber panels.

Weekend House Nové Hamry’S  tall and asymmetrical form was also inspired by a lookout tower with the topmost floor becoming a cozy special spot with a studio, library, and a square window with 2.5 m long sides that frames the view of the treetops, the sky, and the landscape – this is where you can let your thoughts fly! The cabin is pretty spacious and can accommodate up to 10 people on the middle floor where the sleeping zone is. The middle floor is also partially formed with a net to establish a connection with the lowest floor both visually and acoustically while functioning as a rest area. The living area, dining room, and kitchen are all on the ground floor and the layout is arranged around a central wood-burning stove.

While the cabin’s facade is dark, the interiors are bright and warm as they are lined with light-toned timber and OSB panels.”From a formal point of view, the new building is represented by an aerodynamic but angular figure, where classic elements, such as the roof and the wall, give way to a clear shape and merge with each other. The appearance was created through many precisely set spatial scenes of the interior and on the basis of seasonally changing local climatic conditions,” said the team. Currently, the cabin is being used as a creative retreat but the client plans to stay in the home year-round in the future and we hope he puts it on AirBnb every once in a while so we have a shot at experiencing it in person!

Designer: NEW HOW Architects

This sustainable cabin glows like a candle & was built using cross-laminated timber!

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It is my first day back at work after a long weekend that I spent cabin hunting to alleviate my urge to travel. I found this sustainable wooden one called Kynttilä by Ortraum Architects which is Finnish for ‘candle’ – makes sense because it instantly gave me the warm cozy cabin vibes! Kynttilä’s linear shape with its triangular roof is pretty much like a geometric candle adaption in itself.

The cabin is built on Lake Saimaa and is right on the border of lush woods and endless serene water. The prefabricated cabin only takes one day to be assembled. Helsinki-based architecture firm constructed Kynttilä from cross-laminated timber (CLT) with the exteriors featuring larch board cladding. CLT is a wonderfully eco-friendly construction material that offers high strength and structural simplicity for cost-effective buildings. It has a much lighter environmental footprint than concrete or steel. CLT is also quicker to install, reduces construction waste on-site, improves thermal performance, with light handling duties making it better for health and safety, and is versatile enough to be molded according to different designs.

Kynttilä has a 15-square-meter floor space which is optimized for a short stay. It includes built-in furniture like the bed that is fitted on one glazed end and a ladder that leads up to a bunk bed above the door. The sweeping glass windows add openness to the small space and give a cooling visual contrast to the otherwise warm wooden aesthetic. Eaves overhang at both ends of the cabin to provide a sheltered, raised platform for sitting on or storage while also protecting the woodpile kept beneath.

“The space is strongly linked to nature, as the large window creates direct and intimate contact and communication with the surroundings. In the night time, like a candle, Kynttilä shines as a warm light on the lakeshore,” said Ortraum Architects. When you turn on the lamp at dusk, the cabin truly does glow like a candle in the untouched forest and that is why the team planned the most low-impact construction process they could to preserve the stillness of the environment. It is exactly the kind of off-the-grid spot we could all use to recuperate from 2020.

Designer: Ortraum Architects

This conceptual observation tower also filters Central Park’s ponds

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Designed to be the world’s tallest timber structure, and built with its own filtration system, the Central Park Observation Tower concept by DFA aims at doing two things. Increasing public interaction by giving them a centrally located bird’s eye view of the entire park, while also filtering the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a polluted water-body that accounts for 1/8th of the park’s area.

The proposed Observation Tower would be constructed using Glulam (glue-laminated timber) technology, which requires a third of the energy and creates less than a tenth of the fossil fuels compared to steel manufacturing. It also allows the entire structure, 3.5 times bigger than the Statue of Liberty, to be fabricated off-site and assembled directly on the side. Its twisting, tapered design is meant to cast minimum shadows on the park and nearby buildings, a major concern as of late with the many tall towers being built on Central Park South, and its facade pattern was inspired by the woven basket designs of the Lenapes who once lived in Manhattan. At the very top sits a vertical-axis turbine that powers the water filter that constantly purifies the reservoir’s water, making it fit for swimming, sailing, and other water-related activities in the future, while the tower itself also becomes a landmark as well as tourist-attraction, giving you a 700-ft high vantage point and a stunning view of the park!

Designer: DFA

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A bike bell for the mountains

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There’s no reason why a regular city bike should be used on mountain trails. It just isn’t built to handle those conditions. So why do we assume a city bike bell would work on a mountain bike? It doesn’t, say founders of Timber bell, Chris and Liz Lacy. Mountain Bike bells are used (sparingly) to let fellow riders and hikers know that you’re passing by. The City bike bells are shrill, disturbing, and need to be rung periodically, while trying to control your bike on rough terrain. Most bikers ditch the bike bell for a cowbell that hangs from their person, or the bike. The cowbell has a pleasing noise, but it can’t be triggered. It keeps ringing throughout your ride, which needless to say is highly annoying.

The Timber (cleverly named after how lumberers yell Timber when a tree is about to fall. The phrase is now a common call used for alerting people), is a slick/modern looking bike bell that was designed to complement the mountain bike and its biker’s needs, using the cowbell as its inspiration. It doesn’t come with a trigger to ring the bell, but rather comes with an on/off switch that controls the internal clapper. Switch the Timber on, and as the bike moves along the rough terrain, the bell ding-a-lings pleasantly, using the terrain as a trigger. Once you pass by hikers or pedestrians, switch the Timber off and it won’t ring. As Chris and Liz put it, the Timber provides “Trail awareness when you need it – Silence when you don’t”. It’s much more pleasing and convenient than a city bike bell, and definitely classier than having to yell at hikers to get out of the way because you’re coming through. The cowbell sound rings pleasantly among the wilderness and was built for nature, rather than the city bike bell whose shrill sound was designed to overcome regular traffic noise.

Designers: Chris Lacy & Liz Lacy

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