Cabins that reconnect humanity to the planet

Humanity may have overdeveloped our homeworld beyond repair, and is now seeking other worlds on which to live – and possibly destroy in turn, but before we look elsewhere, there’s plenty of this rock we call home remaining in its raw, untouched state, reminding us of what we once had. 

These small cabin structures use large windows and toned-down interiors to connect inhabitants with the world outside, transporting them back in time to the cradle of life. Set in natural environments to help us experience life in its truest form, they are categorised here by one of the four essential elements: earth, wind, fire and water.

The forests of northern Sweden – the glorious landscapes, habitats and materials that a variety of flora provides – represent earth. The world-famous Treehotel cabins in Swedish Lapland, however, have a rather contradictory existence, because any human interference with nature can be seen as damaging. No matter what the sustainable intention.

While the majority of Treehotel cabins fit gently into their surroundings, either with naturally camouflaging or reflective materials, BIG’s Biosphere is slightly different, preferring to address the forest’s ongoing aviary housing crisis instead of adding to it. By covering the 34sqm cabin in 350 birdhouses of varying size at arm’s length, the resulting restriction of light and views is kept to a minimum, while the VIP bird hide’s dark interior only enhances the world outside, allowing camera-carrying twitchers to, quite literally, shoot birds in a barrel.

Home to one of the largest solar farms in the world, the Tengger desert in Inner Mongolia, northern China, is covered by a vast expanse of sky. While providing a thick blanket of tourist-attracting stars to sleep under, the open sky allows the heat of the sun to attack the camp’s tented cabins without mercy. Far from a climatic saviour, however, any wind in the obstruction-free landscape brings with it sandstorms that turn the beautiful sand sea into a harsh and unforgiving one.

Emerging from the golden dunes, the camp’s Service Center provides campers with essential catering, communication and protective services. Taking the form of hidden treasure, the half-submerged structure illustrates what the natural movement of sand does to hide and reveal the desert’s secrets across the irrelevant axis of time. The structure’s double roof provides its interior’s interior with extra shelter from the heat, while the intervening wallspace has a cooler micro-climate. ‘The temperature difference caused by the shadow generates wind, which further takes away heat between the double roofs,’ explains architects 3andwich Design.

Everyone loves a change of scene, and there is, perhaps, no greater contrast than fire and ice. The geothermally active landscape around Lake Mývatn in Iceland is painted with a monochromatic canvas of snow, ice and – with lava formations, hot springs and even volcanoes in the neighbourhood – ash, filling the seemingly uninhabitable tundra with fresh organic life.

In this literally timeless environment, architect Studio Heima has built a cosy and comfortable cabin that contrasts its view with light pine surfaces inside, adding warmth and colour to the interior. Robust burnt pine wood cladding ensures the structure’s long life without overly obstructing the location. ‘As an extrusion of the landscape, the roof is planted with vegetation from the surrounding area, providing insulation,’ say the architects, on how the cabin relates to its environment, ‘the placement of the cabin was carefully chosen according to wind and snowfall,’ ensuring the entrance is accessible all year round.

With two thirds covered in water (and increasing), in order to fully experience Earth’s full gamut of surfaces, one must learn to float. Sandellsandberg’s Big Branzino Sauna is a hotbox that gently skirts around the islands of the Stockholm archipelago, giving visitors a similar experience to a hot spring.

This heat-powered revitalising spa provides a scenic landscape as its backdrop, either behind a glass wall from the central sauna or flanking shower and lounge, with the whole vessel topped by a cooling open-air deck. Sandellsandsberg made sure to remain true to the environment with the unit’s materials too. ‘The interior is built entirely of cedar,’ they state. ‘On the outside, a more rugged pine allows the facade to blend in harmoniously with the surrounding nature of the shoreline.’

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