Cabin Obsession
A study of how an escape from the mundane routines of urban life can be manifested inside the built environment, and the communication that can be harbored between natural and constructed spaces.
How can architecture create a safe, familiar space while still forging connections between the built and natural environment?
Research & Precedent Study
|
I started this project by doing a study of the project's site, The Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in The Rocky Mountains. This research looks at the climate and fauna around the area, as well as the soil composition. In addition to investigating the environment, I did a precedent study of both the surrounding area and how other architects/firms have approached similar design problems. |
Conceptual Designs
|
|
|
Once I completed my research and precedent study, I began forming my own ideas for how to approach the problem. First i had to think of how to divide the multiple domestic spaces. I decided that creating a site of 3 separate cabins, that act as hotel suites, and one central lodge the acts as a gather place on the site.
In addition to this I divided each one of the buildings into a sector of nature. These sectors where Fire (1/2, Right), Earth(4, Right), wind (5/6, Right), and water (3/7, Right); this approach allowed for me to tie the buildings into the environment and truly make them feel like a part of nature, rather than a construct placed within the site.
After determining the composition of the site, I started sketching multiple different lodge and cabin designs(Left). I put an emphasis on the conversation between spaces rather than the look of said spaces and what the exterior would look like. In many of my designs I picked a central element or idea to build around, rather than multiple drivers to shape the space.
In tandem with working in floor-plan on trace paper, I moved into Sketchup to develop my ideas in a 3-Dimensional space(Right). in Sketchup I began to think of how these buildings where actually going to be constructed and the impact their silhouettes' would make on the environment around them
In addition to this I divided each one of the buildings into a sector of nature. These sectors where Fire (1/2, Right), Earth(4, Right), wind (5/6, Right), and water (3/7, Right); this approach allowed for me to tie the buildings into the environment and truly make them feel like a part of nature, rather than a construct placed within the site.
After determining the composition of the site, I started sketching multiple different lodge and cabin designs(Left). I put an emphasis on the conversation between spaces rather than the look of said spaces and what the exterior would look like. In many of my designs I picked a central element or idea to build around, rather than multiple drivers to shape the space.
In tandem with working in floor-plan on trace paper, I moved into Sketchup to develop my ideas in a 3-Dimensional space(Right). in Sketchup I began to think of how these buildings where actually going to be constructed and the impact their silhouettes' would make on the environment around them
Finalized Designs: Phase 1
|
|
|
4, LeftThe As I approached the mid-point of my project, I finalized the first phase of my design. I narrowed down my focus into 4 definite ideas and made a study model for each (Left) in order to communicate their interactions with the site around them. In addition to that I converted my sketches into Revit plans (Right) to clearly communicate them. Within these plans I explore finer details of my designs and began to look at them as actual rooms in a building, rather than simple spaces interacting with each other.
.
The lodge design (1, Left & 1/2, Right) is a representation of the class between the isolation of the wilderness and the collectivism of traditional camping. Built around a central health that's encased by the building's form, the lodge pays homage to the "element" of fire, by having a wood burning fireplace as the center piece of the entire design. The media room acts as a representation of the urban life that was left behind, having a more modernistic facade and being jettisoned from the primary form of the building.
The water cabin (2, Left & 3, Right) is constructed around a central dividing wall that is meant to interrupt the spaces and create a distinct division between public and private. This wall is the building's manifestation of its element, water. The wall is a mirror, facing the public living room, and I thin glass wall to encase a pathway for water to travel through when it rains in order to create a water fall within the cabin. An all glass nook hugs the north-western edge of the house in order to create a space that protects from the elements, but doesn't deprive the user of their beauty.
The air cabin (3, Left & 4/5, Right) is an A-frame that is elevated above the forest floor. It's suspended in the are by two concrete slabs that burrow into the mountain and are stabilized with drilled bell piers. The cabin's public and private spaces are separated into two floors. The first contains the living room, closet, and bathroom; and the second one holds the bedroom. The glass work of the A-frame makes up the bulk of the facade, the large concrete slabs make up the rest of the exterior. The entire building is composed to keep multiple open lines of sight and to let air flow throughout the building, unobstructed.
The earth cabin (4, Left & 6/7, Right) is embedded into the side of the its mountainous site. The building is divided into three floors that simulate the journey of climbing a mountain, a living room as the base, similar to the gathering of hikers at a mountain's base; a bedroom on the second floor, much like the overnight camping required while climbing a large mountain; and a final isolated 3rd floor that acts as the summit of a mountain. The facade of the cabin ungulates with the terrain surrounding it and is constructed as a living roof, in order to truly blend in with the landscape. Within the inside of the building, this natural roof structure is unobstructed, so the residents can celebrate and experience the outside landscape even while being enclosed and protected by the building.
.
The lodge design (1, Left & 1/2, Right) is a representation of the class between the isolation of the wilderness and the collectivism of traditional camping. Built around a central health that's encased by the building's form, the lodge pays homage to the "element" of fire, by having a wood burning fireplace as the center piece of the entire design. The media room acts as a representation of the urban life that was left behind, having a more modernistic facade and being jettisoned from the primary form of the building.
The water cabin (2, Left & 3, Right) is constructed around a central dividing wall that is meant to interrupt the spaces and create a distinct division between public and private. This wall is the building's manifestation of its element, water. The wall is a mirror, facing the public living room, and I thin glass wall to encase a pathway for water to travel through when it rains in order to create a water fall within the cabin. An all glass nook hugs the north-western edge of the house in order to create a space that protects from the elements, but doesn't deprive the user of their beauty.
The air cabin (3, Left & 4/5, Right) is an A-frame that is elevated above the forest floor. It's suspended in the are by two concrete slabs that burrow into the mountain and are stabilized with drilled bell piers. The cabin's public and private spaces are separated into two floors. The first contains the living room, closet, and bathroom; and the second one holds the bedroom. The glass work of the A-frame makes up the bulk of the facade, the large concrete slabs make up the rest of the exterior. The entire building is composed to keep multiple open lines of sight and to let air flow throughout the building, unobstructed.
The earth cabin (4, Left & 6/7, Right) is embedded into the side of the its mountainous site. The building is divided into three floors that simulate the journey of climbing a mountain, a living room as the base, similar to the gathering of hikers at a mountain's base; a bedroom on the second floor, much like the overnight camping required while climbing a large mountain; and a final isolated 3rd floor that acts as the summit of a mountain. The facade of the cabin ungulates with the terrain surrounding it and is constructed as a living roof, in order to truly blend in with the landscape. Within the inside of the building, this natural roof structure is unobstructed, so the residents can celebrate and experience the outside landscape even while being enclosed and protected by the building.
