Vancouver, British Columbia-based firm Platform Architecture + Design created this angular timber cabin for a young family in Oroville, Washington (about three-and-a-half hours northwest of Spokane, in the eastern part of the state) and it's a real knockout.
Clocking in at (a relatively compact) 850 square feet, the "Sky House," as it's been named, gives its clients a cozy, rustic retreat, composed of laminated-timber interiors and weathered steel exterior panels expected to take on an ochre patina not unlike the red hues found in some of the exposed bedrock nearby.
The two-story cabin, which was prefabricated offsite, shipped in on a single tractor trailer, and constructed in two days, runs on a solar power system, while hot water and cooking gas are provided via propane tank.
Though it may not be a lap of luxury, the house does provide some creature comforts in spite of its small size: A recessed bathroom hides beneath a movable platform guest-bed; a wood-burning stove provides heat (though the walls are, according to the architects, hyper-insulated with mineral wool); and broad glass doors on the ground level frame sweeping views of the surrounding landscape, perhaps the most magnificent amenity available here.
∙ platform a + d develops sky house as an isolated refuge [Designboom]
∙ Chic Prefab Floating Cabin Offers Dreamy Mobile Retreat [Curbed]