The thought of cabins could spur images of a simple structure with wood clad walls and a pitched roof in infinite wilderness. While stunning nature may remain, these modern cabins will soon change everything you know about the look and design of the quaint dwellings. All across the world, architects are reimagining the cabin experience, and a new book from Images Publishing is cataloguing them all.
Modern Cabins: Return to the Wild, looks at the most extraordinary cabins from Asia to Europe to the United States, and it captures the structures in their perfectly remote settings. The book “celebrates our primordial connection with nature through a compilation of stunning contemporary architectural interventions in pristine natural settings, each as diverse as the countries and landscapes in which they are built,” Dev Desai writes in the introduction. From seaside retreats to forest escapes, below find 12 stunning cabins featured in Modern Cabins: Return to the Wild.

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Bivouac Fanton (Dolomites, Italy) 

Located at 8,750 feet above sea level in the Marmarole mountain range, the single-volume structure designed by firm Demogo looks as if it is just balancing on the edge of the mountain. An impressive example of high altitude architecture, the cabin aims to connect people with nature.

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Woodnest (Odda, Norway) 

In many ways, Woodnest in Norway acts like a sophisticated version of a tree house, which is what the architects at Helen & Hard wanted to create. Designed to recreate the emotional and physical experience of climbing and exploring a tree, a small timber bridge leads visitors from the forrest into the home, which is suspended about 18 feet above the forest floor. 

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Maidla Nature Villa (Rapla County, Estonia) 

Standing on 23-foot stilts, this 301-square-foot structure sits among birch trees at the edge of a bog. The cabin was designed by B210 architects and is defined by large floor-to-ceiling windows and the thermo-treat dark ash facade. 

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Hammerfest Hiking Cabin (Hammerfest, Norway) 

In a collaboration between Format Engineers and Spinn Arkitekter, the design team created two organic wooden cabins perfect for rest stops for hikers. Constructed like a 3D puzzle, the wooden, cross-laminated timber shells are each made from 77 unique panels. 

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Tungestølen Hiking Cabins (Luster, Norway)

A cluster of cabins designed by Snøhetta, these structures overlook the Jostedalen glacier in Luster, Norway. The Norwegian firm was tasked with designing these hiking rest points after the original Tungestølen Tourist Cabin was destroyed by Cyclone Dagmar in December of 2011. 

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Cabin on a Rock (White Mountains, New Hampshire)

Sitting on a granite outcropping, this cabin designed by I-Kanda Architects in New Hampshire acts as a family of four’s weekend retreat. Using prefabrication techniques, the cabin was built rather quickly despite the treacherous site and terrain. To avoid leveling the granite, nine concrete footings are used to raise and stabilize the cabin 

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Smart Lucia (Iisalmi, Finland)

Made from glass and steel, this ready-to-use unit sits near a small body of water in Iisalmi, Finland. The reflective facade blends into the environment, and from the inside the glass walls give residents nearly unobstructed views of nature all around. 

 

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Forest Glamp (Quebec, Canada) 

Using a reflective facade, this cabin near Massif de Charlevoix in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François—one of Quebec’s most popular ski resorts—disappears into its surroundings. Designed by Lechasseur Architectes, the cabin can hold up to six people. 

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Ashen Cabin (Ithaca, New York) 

Designed by Hannah, Ashen Cabin in New York was constructed, in many ways, because of a beetle. When the Emerald Ash Borer beetle was accidentally introduced to American forests in 2002, nine billion ash trees across the United States were threatened by the species’ larvae feeding on the inner bark of the trees. Ashen Cabin repurposed wood from these nibbled trees—with help from robotics and 3D printing—to save the timber from being burned. 

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Kynttilä (Lake Saimaa, Finland)

The architectural firm Ortraum was inspired by the forest and nearby tranquil lake when designing Kynttilä. Through using minimal ornamentation and forms, the cabin aims to provide visual and spiritual focus to those who visit it. 

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Huaira (Puerto Quito, Ecuador) 

Gabion-like elevations help provide sufficient ventilation in the humid climate of Ecuador. A simple plywood base, a glass door, and glass gables keeps the material palette of the home minimal, which was a specific design choice from architects Diana Salvador and Javier Mera Luna, who wanted to ensure little impact to the environment. 

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Gawthorne’s Hut (Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia)

With an angled galvanized shell, Cameron Anderson Architects sought to respond to the history and context of the site when designing this cabin. Honoring its rural setting through the material pallet, the home also incorporates many sustainable design elements, including rain water storage and passive solar shading. 

Source: AD