The coolest cabin retreats

last updated 15 October 2022

Call it the effect of 'cabin porn' or urban fatigue, but the fascination with the rustic retreat has never been higher. While our attachment to technology might once have precluded us from dipping into the off-the-grid lifestyle, the pendulum has swung toward a predilection for timber-clad bedrooms, elegant woodstoves and enchanting loft ladders. Oh, the vicarious pleasure!

Cabin fever: the Wallpaper* edit of the sweetest escapes — **Sol Duc Cabin**

Sited in West Washington, this compact cabin is the latest triumph in a series of small structures by Olson Kundig Architects

**Sol Duc Cabin**

The cabin's position and open façade provide the occupants with unimpeded views of the surrounding wilderness

The house is elevated on four steel pillars — **Sol Duc Cabin**
To add to its ‘near-indestructability’, and to avoid occasional floods, the house is elevated on four steel pillars

Cabin’s interiors are warmly clad with leftover wood — **Sol Duc Cabin**
In contrast to its robust exterior, the cabin’s interiors are warmly clad with leftover wood

Living room and kitchen are located on the lofty lower level — **Sol Duc Cabin**
They were designed in a simple layout, where the living room and kitchen are located on the lofty lower level, and the bedroom on the mezzanine

**Sol Duc Cabin**
The covered balcony offers a sheltered area to enjoy the views

Concrete architecture: our pick of the finest — **Pobble House**
Designed by Guy Holloway Architects, Pobble House is sited within the sparse Dungeness headland

**Pobble House**
Inside, the living space fully absorbs the sparse natural surroundings

Fonte Boa House
The white rendered façade is evocative of the Portuguese region's vernacular tradition of simple pitched forms and whitewashed walls, with a playful pattern of picture frame windows, carefully positioned to optimise the internal experience

Fonte Boa House
The frameless glass façade in the living room is the pièce de résistance, providing dramatic views out over the Fonte Boa estate

Fonte Boa House
A frameless glass lobby appended to the entrance slots into the dining space and aids the transition from outside to inside

Fonte Boa House
The stark concrete retaining walls of the semi-sunken carpark are set in perfect alignment to the house, its elongated form providing an attenuated buffer from the main road

Fonte Boa House
A generous hallway at the first floor level divides the two bedrooms, with the pitched ceiling creating an interior reminiscent of an art gallery

Fonte Boa House
An external storage area is neatly incorporated into the carpark walls. The adjacent concrete stair draws the eye towards the entrance

Fonte Boa House
The meticulous attention paid to the design of fixed furniture is prevalent throughout the house, including the kitchen storage units positioned flush with the under stair storage

The Houl
Emerging from the contours of an elevated and exposed Dumfriesshire hillside, The Houl is not only a fine contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional Scottish 'longhouse' but also a net zero carbon dwelling that doesn't wear its progressive eco credentials too visibly on its sleeve

The Houl
Designed as a single storey family home by (and for) Simon Winstanley of Castle Douglas based-Simon Winstanley Architects, The Houl sits within a concave cranny on a west-facing slope overlooking the spectacular River Ken valley and the ridges of the Rhinns of Kells hills

The Houl
The low slung and streamlined design uses a lightweight steel and timber frame construction, with cedar weatherboard cladding – untreated to allow weathering to a natural silver grey colour – and long monopitched roofs, finished in pre-weathered grey zinc

The Houl
The slant of the main roof above the living accommodation follows the slope of the hillside

The Houl
The rear roof meets the main pitch at a shallower angle, to allow morning sunlight to flood into the heart of the house

The Houl
In addition to its sustainable approach to construction (where all excavated material was re-used on the site), energy efficient systems are also central to the design raison d'être

The Houl
The airtight house achieves net zero carbon emissions by means of PassivHaus standards of insulation in the walls and roof, augmented by a reflective thermal membrane on the inner and outer faces of the timber kit

The Houl
The principal open plan living areas are arranged along the contour of the site to take full advantage of the views across the valley, whereas the ancillary spaces are recessed to the rear

Dumfries shire house — **The Houl**
The main living area of the Dumfriesshire house

Kitchen with counter — **The Houl**
The house's kitchen

Chilmark Guest House
Peering out from a forest, the Chilmark Guest House in Massachusetts is a beautifully compact guest cabin

Chilmark Guest House
The cabin is the latest work of US firm, Charles Rose Architects

Chilmark Guest House
The house is perched on a steep slope that looks onto a clearing and the nearby Vineyard Sound

Chilmark Guest House
The building is designed to maximise views, with large windows and balconies that ensure the space feels light and open

Chilmark Guest House
A cellar, porch and roof terrace provide extra living space

Chilmark Guest House
The architects have used a natural material palette for the exterior, including pigmented concrete, stone, copper, cedar and fir

Normandy House
Located in an isolated residential patch of the Perche countryside in France's Normandy region, this house is Paris-based Beckmann N'Thépé's latest residential project

Normandy House
The Normandy House overlooks the beautiful nearby Bellême Forest and sits on a simple, 50 sq m base

Normandy House
Despite its small footprint, the architects have artfully created a series of airy spaces, including a double-height living area, lit by the garden opening to the south, and a generous loft-style master bedroom

Normandy House
A glimpse of the red staircase that leads to the master bedroom

Alpine Barn
In a UNESCO World Heritage site in Selva di Cadore, Italian architecture practice EXiT have taken a classic Belluno barn and successfully reworked it for the 21st century

Alpine Barn
The 220 sq m structure is not only beautifully preserved but also fully energy self-efficient, through the use of a photovoltaic system on the roof and electric under floor heating

Alpine Barn
The selected materials – larch and fir wood, Dolomia stone, black steel, white rough plaster – also match the original structure and frame the several private and service areas of the house

Alpine Barn
The open plan living area

**Wood Cabin**
Nestled between the tree trunks, with its traditional pitched roof, dark wood façade and little chimney, the external appearance of this weekend hideaway is intended to awaken fairytale associations

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).