Modern lakeside shelter in the woods

The incredibly talented architecture firm from Seattle, Washington, Olson Kundig Architects brilliantly infused contemporary class to a country cabin. The Chicken Point Cabin, built in 2002, is a house situated on a lake in northern Idaho which the architects describe as “a little box with a big window that opens to the surrounding landscape.” The cabin’s big window-wall (30 feet by 20 feet) opens the entire living space to the forest and lake. Materials are low maintenance—concrete block, steel, concrete floors and plywood—in keeping with the notion of a cabin, and left unfinished to naturally age and acquire a patina that fits in with the natural setting. The cabin sleeps ten.

The facade of the house features an expansive window wall, 30-by-20-ft., which can be wound open with a rustic hand crank to expose the interior of the home to the outdoors, the lake and the forest. Constructed of insulated concrete block, steel and plywood, the materials have been intentionally left unfinished to bestow on the cabin a rustic appearance.

Inside, knotty woods and hand poured concrete floors are complemented by bare brick walls and a repurposed pipe-turned-fireplace as the main focal point of the home.

The schematics of the home were purposely designed around this awe-inspiring window, providing each room a sensational panoramic view.

Photos: Benjamin Benschneider