This cabin is an amazing masterpiece that was built gradually over six decades by Jim Olson’s. The project also became a respect for nature and admiration for the beauty of the site. Situated in the middle of pine and cedar trees and overlooking Puget Sound in rural Washington State, is about being part of nature and observing nature. What started out as an area of 14-square-foot bunker that was built in 1959 near the small community of Longbranch, has changed drastically over the next remodel in 1981, 1997, 2003 and 2014 to a weekend retreat simple but very habitable. Olson Kundig through architecture studio based in Seattle, which was founded in the ’50s making a retreat forest area of 240 square meters which includes a master bedroom and two guest rooms. Each additional and successive reforms have been reusing and integrating previous structure rather than remove it to reveal the history of the architecture of the cabin.
Olson first worked on a bunkhouse for his family in Longbranch at the age of eighteen, since then, he has continued to extend that small structure into a private retreat and a touchpoint for his next work worldwide. This cabin deliberately subject to color and texture, allowing the lush natural environment preferred. The use of simple materials and easy to use visible throughout the wood-framed wall covered with plywood both inside and outside, two pairs of steel columns support the roof structure that is open, and pine interior into outdoor decking with additional distance.
The bedrooms are basically just a set of boxes under a unifying roof, together they create a form based on the hillside and projecting views over the landscape. To provide a broader outdoor view, the 11′ x 13′ large window of space not only frames views of the adjacent grassland and Puget Sound but visually blends in and out of the room.
The open concept is clearly visible in almost all parts of space. It is seen from the sliding doors strategically placed windows and vaulted above the bed provides a constant contact with nature. The design itself accommodate three adult trees had been allowed to grow through the openings in the deck, one of them out through the slit roof.
Reply