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Posts Tagged ‘Huts’

Wilderness Huts for Backcountry Glamour: 15 Not-So-Rustic Retreats

24 Aug

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

If you’ve got an appetite for backcountry exploration but hate setting up tents, perhaps a more comfortable wilderness hut would be a better fit. Designs for home-like retreats in remote locations range from minimalist sci-fi sleeping pods to luxurious vacation properties with modest exteriors that retain the feel of a homesteader’s cabin, and they’re often self-sustainable, portable and low-impact.

Back Country House by David Maurice

Throughout the wilderness of New Zealand, adventurous backpackers can find basic, rustic huts that will put a roof over their heads for a night or two. ‘Back Country House’ by LTD Architectural keeps the spirit of those simple structures while making it a whole lot more comfortable. Designed for the architect’s own family, the home features a spacious terrace that functions as the living room, with an outdoor fireplace and two sunken tubs in the deck keeping it cozy in winter. The pop-up tub covers double as tables for a sunken seating area.

Drew House by Simon Laws

A series of pavilions joined by outdoor walkways offers living space for a family near Queensland, Australia. Though it looks like a reclaimed sewer pipe, the rounded pavilion was just built to that shape using metal sheeting, capped on one end with hardwood louvers. All components were constructed offsite and transported to the plot to minimize disturbance. The passive solar home is self-sufficient, with rainwater tanks and recycling systems, solar power panels and solar hot water.

Tiny House in the San Juan Islands by Prentiss Architects

Overlooking the sea from its perch on Washington’s San Juan Island, Eagle Point Cabin by Prentiss Architects looks modest from the outside, with its rustic wooden facade and grassy roof. But inside, it’s just as comfortable as any high-end home, offering a wood stove, a wall of windows for whale watching, a spacious bedroom and a bathtub with a view.

Eco POD Hotel in Switzerland

Designed by Robust Outdoor Brands, Switzerland’s first eco POD hotel features dreamy little rounded rooms set into a snowy landscape. After dark, when they’re illuminated from within, they look almost too much like a fairytale to be true. Each low-impact room is made with FSC-certified wood and double-glazed windows and accommodates two people.

Tye River Cabin by Olson Kundig

Located in a dense forest near the Tye River in Skykomish, Washington, the Tye River Cabin by Olson Kundig architects is envisioend as a meditative retreat with pivoting glass windows that swing open to blur the lines between outside and in. The architects set the cabin on a concrete base and wrapped the exterior in rusted steel siding.

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Wilderness Huts For Backcountry Glamour 15 Not So Rustic Retreats

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MUJI Huts: $27,000 Japanese Timber Micro-Homes Finally for Sale this Fall

11 May

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Japanese makers of minimalist household goods and apparel at MUJI began designing and developing a series of small prefab homes a few years back, one of which is now slated to hit the market later this year.

At just under 100 square feet, the first model to hit the sales floor is a simple but elegant module wrapped in charred timber with floor-to-ceiling fenestration on one side. This traditional blackened-wood cladding technique helps finish the wood, protecting it from fire and decay.

Inside, bright wood paneling and solid walls on three sides make for a cozy interior and flexibility to situate the structure facing choice scenery. The smooth floor is designed to be easily cleaned for those trekking in and out. Outside, a small covered deck extends the space.

The relatively low cost (around $ 27K USD) includes both materials and labor (construction) costs. The structure is intended to serve any function needed, from weekend getaway or supplemental room to autonomous housing unit for fans of simple homes and small-space living.

“It’s not as dramatic as owning a house or a vacation home, but it’s not as basic as going on a trip,” explains MUJI. “Put it in the mountains, near the ocean, or in a garden, and it immediately blends in with the surroundings, inviting you to a whole new life.”

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Muji Huts: Affordable Pop-Up Modern Homes Made for Japan

05 Dec

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

muji huts 1

The same Japanese retail chain selling household supplies like space-saving furniture, bed linens and travel toothbrushes will soon sell pop-up houses, too, so you can literally walk out with a kit for an entire, fully-outfitted home in one trip. The Muji Hut, designed by Konstantin Grcic, Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa for retailer Muji, comes in three variations starting at $ 25K. Each offers just enough space for one or two minimalist residents.

muji huts 2

muji hut 7

The Japanese housing market is a little different from that of the U.S. and other parts of the world in that real estate doesn’t accrue value over time, and demand for preexisting houses is low. Not everybody has the money to knock down an old house and build a new one in its place, however, and lots tend to be tiny.

muji huts 3

muji huts 4

Each designer created their own version of an affordable, no-frills structure that can be assembled in short order, including one made of aluminum, a two-story timber creation and a little cabin clad in cork. Each takes inspiration from kyosho jutaku, the Japanese style of micro homes that aims to squeeze as much function out of tiny footprints as possible.

muji huts 5

muji huts 6

The Muji Huts are envisioned as weekend getaway destinations rather than full-time living spaces, but each contains a generous living room, bathroom and kitchen, and can be heated with a wood stove. The huts can be installed in virtually any location, from tight city lots to the banks of a river, and will be available for purchase in 2017.

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Muji Huts: 3 Minimalist Prefab Dwellings Starting at $25,000

11 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

muji wood hut

Three designers contributing to the Muji Hut project have pitched their tent-, cottage- and cabin-inspired ideas for tiny retreats at Tokyo Design Week, each structure borrowing lessons in simplicity from Japanese housing traditions. The spaces are intentionally essential, featuring just what one needs to relax and enjoy natural surroundings and family gatherings.

muji hut glass

The Wooden Hut by Naoto Fukasawa is both open and cozy, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a soaking tub hidden behind a wall and a wood-burning stove to warm the interior. A wood-burning stove heats the interior, which is furnished with a cot, dining table and chairs, and kitchenette.

muji bathtub

“When I hear the word hut, I’m attracted,” says designer Naoto Fukasawa. It’s not quite a villa but not as simple as a tent. With a small hut you can burrow into the wilderness whenever you want.”

muji hut cork

The Cork Hut by Jasper Morrison has space for cooking, eating, gathering and sleeping, featuring a trim aesthetic with simple lines brought to life by variegated cork surfaces.

muji living room

“Whenever I think about going to the country for the weekend, I start imagining a small house with everything needed for a short stay,” says Jasper Morrison.

muji dining eating space

“The dream usually collapses when I think of the complexity of building a new house, but with this project I realized there was a chance to design such a house as a product rather than a one-off.”

muji two story

The Aluminum Hut by Konstantin Grcic has a small footprint to avoid the need for building permits. A ladder leads occupants up to sleeping lofts while flexible aluminum awnings protect it in transit.

muji panel doors

“The hut is just a space — it doesn’t have to be a fully functioning place for living,” says Grcic.

muji ladder space

“There doesn’t have to be water or electricity. It is just a space for doing something.” The trio of huts will go on sale soon, starting at approximately $ 25,000 USD.

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Place Vendome in Venice Gets Giant Bird Nest Tree Huts

24 Oct

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Place Vendome Bird Nest Installations 1

Upon the centuries-old architecture of Place Vendome in Paris, nest-like structures of head-scratching proportions have appeared; messy wooden lean-to huts clinging to verdigris pillars and posh old buildings. It seems as if giant birds have descended upon the city and made it their home.

Place Vendome Bird Nest Installation 3

The parasitic structures are the ‘tree huts’ of Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata, a continuation of a series that has taken him around the globe.

Place Vendome Bird Nest Installation 4

Five small cabins have been installed in key places in the Place Vendome, including the Vendome column, built in 1702 as a monument to the armies of Louis XIV.

Place Vendome Nest Installation 2

The confusion of wooden slats draws the curiosity of onlookers, wondering who – or what – could be inside. The structures will be up for a month as part of FIAC 2013, an art festival in Paris. Among the other places in which Tadashi’s parasitic architecture has been installed are New York’s Madison Square Garden, Florence and Switzerland.

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Drowned Out: 9 Abandoned Lifeguard Huts & Towers

31 Mar

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

abandoned lifeguard towers
Battered by wind, waves and relentless weathering, these 9 abandoned lifeguard towers still stand watch though the watchers have long since left.

Genkai-jima, Japan

abandoned lifeguard tower genkaijima Japan(images via: Another Tokyo)

The island of Genkai-jima in southern Japan’s Hakata Bay has seen a lot of history, not least being two unsuccessful Mongol invasions almost 750 years ago. Situated off the Itoshima Peninsula on the bay’s western side, Genkai-jima offers an ideal lookout platform in general and, wonder of wonders, boasts a man-made lookout platform to boot.

Genkaijima Japan abandoned lifeguard lookout tower(image via: Catching Fish With Fish)

The abandoned lifeguard tower on Genkai-jima is rather luxurious as such constructions go, providing a windowed sheltering space beneath the topmost observation platform accessible via a poured concrete, railed staircase. An appreciable expense must have been expended to run an electrical power line to the hut, enabling the use of a powerful searchlight mounted on the roof. After all that, the tower was abandoned at some point and is inexorably deteriorating. Swim (or invade) at your own risk.

Koshkol, Kyrgyzstan

abandoned lifeguard station Koshkol Kyrgyzstan(image via: Wikipedia/Vmenkov)

Vladimir Menkov picked a picture-perfect day to document the current (well, 2007) state of the lifeguard station at the abandoned Lake Issyk Kul beach resort at Koshkol, Kyrgyzstan. Formerly patronized by vacationing Soviet-era poobahs, the resort and its facilities were caught between the fall of communism and the rise of Islamism.

Cape Town, South Africa

abandoned lifeguard hut Cape Town South Africa Innocent(images via: Sandra Maytham-Baily)

Sandra Maytham-Bailey used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and some very creative processing techniques to bring out the best of this abandoned beachfront lifeguard hut. Cape Town’s beaches are both spectacular and dangerous – if the powerful riptides don’t get you, the local Great White Sharks will. Why’s this “Innocent” lifeguard HQ boarded up and abandoned, then? Perhaps potential lifeguards figured the hazards weren’t worth the pay.

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