Nestled in the bushes of Suburban Wuhan, ‘The Ark Cabin’ is a getaway home built by Wiki World for a family of four. The two-story wooden cabin is fitted with a huge triangular roof doubling as an intimate loft that oozes warmth. Responding to the southern climate, the eye-catching rooftop offers ample protection from sun exposure and rainy days.
The first floor breaks down into two spatial blocks: a big terrace extending into the forest under the eaves and a separate room with a fireplace for any member needing some alone time during their vacation. The living room connects to a guest bathroom, with a staircase leading up to the second-floor triangular loft where two bedrooms sit at opposite ends. The architects concealed air conditioning and lighting systems to maintain the purity of the wooden, geometric texture characterizing that level.
Reflecting on the cabin, the owner, Paul, writes: ‘ This wooden house, for me, is both a reward and a place to come and catch my breath when I feel overwhelmed. The future lifestyle I imagine will be more about the experience than achievement; pursuing achievement often comes with anxiety, while experience is easier to obtain and more grounding and enriching.’
Wiki World (see more here ) used a prefabricated wooden structure to complete ‘The Ark Cabin’. Throughout, the team retained every tree on site and preserved the path and texture of the original woodland. ‘ We tried to create a precise relationship between the cabin and the forested context. The structure is elevated from the ground, and no walls or artificial landscapes are used. Nature is the best package,’ comments Wiki World.
The overall structure is made of Finnish wood, appearing like grainy plywood along the facades and carbonized along the roof. Through this technique, the architects hope to amplify the influence of the material on space and senses by returning to actual natural states, as exemplified by the project’s surroundings.
The owners were also involved in the building process; ‘ Paul said that the log cabin was new and fun to build, the charred wood felt great, and it felt like home to build a house together as a family in the forest and to move in together,’ notes Wiki World.
Concluding, Paul states: ‘ The living experience is no less than a five-star hotel. The wood insulation is great, and a small fireplace can provide sufficient heat for such a large house. My wife, who’s been afraid of ghosts since she was a child, didn’t want to leave after a week of living in the house. Before The Ark goes online, many friends asked to come and stay there. It may be mostly out of curiosity, but I believe they will eventually love the house once they’ve lived there .’
name: [Wild Home #94#] – The Ark Cabin
architecture: Wiki World design team: Wei Mu, Yingchun Zhang, Baorong Wu, Zhaoxian Feng, Jiaqi Li
designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.
edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom
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