The Woodland Cabin

A lakeside cabin on the edge of woodlands in the village of Nouvelles, Belgium. A self-build project, the new 35m2 cabin replaces a dilapidated timber structure.

The brief was to create a woodland cabin that could function as a picnic and BBQ venue, a guesthouse and a studio. It needed to be lightweight, simple and economical. Furthermore it had to be built of timber beams and cladding that had been milled from trees in the surrounding woods. To capture the surrounding natural beauty, its openings respond to the outside views and approaches to the cabin.

The practice undertook the construction of the cabin ourselves during various trips over to Belgium. Materials used include concrete strip
oundations, a suspended timber floor on brick dwarf walls, external timber cladding, which had been specially treated with used tractor oil, and internal OSB cladding.