Cabin in the wood

A 4.5-square-metres wooden cabin conceived as an observation post for roe deers and other wild animals living in the woods, but also as a place to read a book or just to contemplate the nature. The cabin, 345 cm long and 130 wide, is built on a pre-existing concrete volume, previously at the base of a hunting tower. Thus, the project inverts completely the sense of place.

The tiny building is turned 45 degrees in order to have a triangular landing in front of the entrance door. This rotation permits the cabin to fit perfectly between two trees grown at the side of the concrete base and to create a totally immersive experience of the woods from the interior. It is ideally located at a crossroads between the estate road that cross the woods and the path that leads to the garden’s entrance of a nearby historical villa: from these two focuses the cabin looks perfectly located in its environment: the two glazed corners are aligned along this visual axis

The exterior cladding, made out of recycled timber, is characterised by vertical planks of different widths, brushed and painted with a black mordant. This finishing lends the small cabin a look in harmony with the geometries and the colours of the woods. The interior is soberly furnished by a simple bench and a cushion directly placed on the floor in the glazed corner.

At the base of the project is the idea of continuity, conceived at different scales and according to different interpretations. The shorter sides, totally glazed, make the cabin look completely transparent along the longitudinal axis, dematerialising the small volume. On the longer facades, the vertical wooden cladding blends into the trunks and the colours of the woods. The glazed corner, due to the light angle of incidence, could change from being completely transparent to be mirrored, creating a constantly changing perception of the cabin in the woods.