Alpine Cabin by Scott & Scott Architects
The partners of new Vancouver studio Scott & Scott Architects created this remote snowboarding cabin for their own use at the northern end of Vancouver Island.
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The Alpine Cabin by Susan and David Scott is lifted off the ground on six columns made of douglas fir tree trunks, which pierce through the rooms on both storeys.
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The exterior clad in cedar, intended to weather to the tone of the surrounding forest, and the interior finished in planed fir.
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"The construction approach was determined to avoid machine excavation, to withstand the annual snowfall, to resist the dominant winds and to build in a manner which elevates the building above the height of the accumulated snow on the ground," say the architects.
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The majority of the ground floor is taken up by a combined living room and kitchen, but also includes a bathroom and sauna. Upstairs there are two bedrooms with a study in between.
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One corner of the ground floor is cut away to create a spacious porch where firewood and snowboarding equipment can be stored.
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The cabin is located in a community-operated alpine recreation area 1300 metres above sea level and is accessible by a gravel road for five months of the year, but otherwise equipment and supplies must be carried on a sledge to the site.
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The building is completely off-grid, heated by a wood-burning stove and using water that must be fetched from nearby and carried in.
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The architects built the project themselves with the help of friends. "The cabin was constructed out of a desire to directly design and build as a singular act, to work with the freedom one experiences when snowboarding, and in a manner which is centered in the adventure and not bound heavily in pre-determination," they explain.
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Susan and David Scott launched their own practice in February after twelve years of working for established firms.
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Other winter retreats on Dezeen include a holiday home that Peter Zumthor designed for himself and his family and one that's been squeezed into the passageway between two farm buildings in northern Italy.
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See more winter retreats »
See more architecture in the snow »
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