Micro-Architecture: 40 Big Ideas for Small Cabins

Courtesy of Klein

In spite of their apparent simplicity, small cabins have always been a welcome design challenge in which scale, materiality and habitability must be resolved in order to take maximum advantage of minimal spaces. Perhaps the most famous exercise in cabin design, the Le Corbusier-designed 16m2 cabanon was a container of ideas in which the Swiss architect explored the “modulor”– an understanding of the fundamentality of human scale. In the ensuing half-century, many prominent architects have ventured into cabin design both experimentally and at a primitive level, especially as a small refuge in harmony within a natural context.

We have selected 36 small cabin designs from around the world that explore different types of solutions according to context and programmatic needs. 

Micro Courtyard House / Atelier Kaiser Shen (7m2)

© Nicolai Rapp

Floor Plan

Diogene / Renzo Piano (7.5m2)

© Julien Lanoo

Exploded Axonometric

The Treehouse / Wee Studio (8m2)

© RoadsideAlien Studio

Floor Plan

Antoine / BUREAU A (9m2)

© Dylan Perrnound

Section

Studentboende: Student Unit / Tengbom (10m2)

© Bertil Hertzberg

Floor Plan

Viking Seaside Summer House / FREAKS Architecture (12m2)

© Jules Couartou

Floor Plan

The Cabin / JAN TYRPEKL (12.5m2) 

© Antonin Matejovski

Floor Plans

Slice / Saunders Architecture (15m2)

Charred Cabin / DRAA (15m2)

© Felipe Camus

Floor Plan

Ecologic Pavilion In Alsace / Studio 1984 (15m2)

Courtesy of Studio 1984

Section – Plan

DD16 / BIO-architects (16m2)

© Vlad Mitichev

Floor Plan

A45 / BIG (17m2)

Courtesy of Klein

Floor Plan

Permanent Camping / Casey Brown Architecture (18m2)

© Rob Brown

Section

Cabin on the Border / SO? Architecture&Ideas (18m2)

Courtesy of SO?

Section

Rolling Huts / Olson Kundig (18.6m2)

© Tim Bies

Floor Plan

The Truffle / Ensamble Estudio (25m2)

© Roland Halbe

Floor Plans

Cabanas no Rio / Aires Mateus (26m2)

© Nelson Garrido

Floor Plan

KODA / Kodasema (26.8m2)

©Paul Kuimet

Floor Plans

Tree Snake Houses / Luís Rebelo de Andrade + Tiago Rebelo de Andrade (27m2)

© Ricardo Oliveira Alves

Floor Plans

Portable House ÁPH80 / Ábaton Arquitectura (27m2)

© Juan Baraja

Floor Plan

MIMA Light / MIMA Architects (27m2)

© Jose Campos

Floor Plan

Knapphullet / Lund Hagem (30m2)

© Kim Muller

Site Plan

Thoreau’s Cabin / cc-studio (35m2)

© John Lewis Marshall

Floor Plan

Slow Cabins (TM) in Belgium / Xavier Leclair (36m2)

Floor Plan

Box House / Alan Chu & Cristiano Kato (36m2)

© Djan Chu

Floor Plans

Treehouse Solling / baumraum (37m2)

© Markus Bollen

Floor Plan

Tower Studio / Saunders Architecture (37.7m2)

© Bent René Synnevág

Section

Escondido / Alberto Kalach (38.8m2)

Courtesy of Alberto Kalach

Floor Plan – Section

Quebrada House / UNarquitectura (40m2)

© Natalia Vial

Floor Plan

Summerhouse T / Krupinski/Krupinska Arkitekter (40m2)

© Äke E:son Lindman

Floor Plan

Refugi Lieptgas / Georg Nickisch + Selina Walder (40m2)

© Gaudenz Danuser

Section

MINIMOD Catuçaba / MAPA (42m2)

© Leonardo Finotti

Floor Plan

Treehouse Riga / Appleton & Domingos (44m2)

© Fernando Guerra | FG+SG

Floor Plan

Garden House / Caspar Schols (45m2)

© Jorrit't Hoen

Elevation

Colorado Outward Bound Micro Cabins / University of Colorado Denver (48m2)

© Jesse Kouroiwa

Exploded Axonometric

Whangapoua / Crosson Clarke Carnachan (48.8m2)

© Jackie Meiring

Floor Plans

House Prototype / Luis Roldan Velasco + Ángel Hevia Antuña (50m2)

© Gori Salvà

Floor Plan

The VIPP Shelter / VIPP (55m2)

Courtesy of Vipp

Floor Plans

Eyrie Houses / Cheshire Architects (58m2)

© Jeremy Toth

Floor Plan

Moonlight Cabin / Jackson Clements Burrows (60m2)

© Jeremy Weihrauch

Floor Plan