These tiny buildings are created specifically for the environment that they are in. Every design decision has been made to either enhance the experience of the surroundings or shield from it. The purpose of the cabins is to let the people staying in them come close to nature but in a comfortable way.
All cabins are completely off the grid and located on a private island. Simplicity was a necessity – from a construction point of view but also to keep the balance between building and nature.
The timber structure is made from the same kind of trees that grows around it – Norway spruce. Pillars lift the floor up from the ground as a sign of respect for nature – thus the footprint of this building is minimal.
The name, 72h Cabin, which refers to the amount of time five people who participated in the study that Karolinska Institutet conducted about stress, stayed in them. All participants reduced their stress levels drastically.
All boards – the ones on the walls as well as the floor – are set a few millimetres apart from each other, partly because of the movements within the material, and partly because it filters the sunlight in a beautiful way but mostly the reason for this is ventilation. Since there is so much glass the temperature could be very high when the sun is up but because the cabins are well ventilated the indoor temperature rarely differs much from the outdoor climate. Besides, this is not a place for daytime activity – this is the place you curl up a night to look at the stars.
The see-through celling is the main feature of these cabins. You do not crawl into a tent and shut out nature with the pull of a zipper – you climb onto a comfortable bed and start counting the stars.
The bed basically dominates the floor area, it has the same legs as the cabins themselves (glue laminated pillars); this provides storage underneath. The areas around the bed is carefully calculated to be as small as possible but still allowing someone to comfortably sit on the edge of the bed or change the sheets.
The shelves behind the bed are actually the elements necessary for screwing on the boards for the gabel wall, they were deliberately made larger to make this dual function possible.
Anyone who feels the need to stay in one of these cabins can book them online. They are available in several different locations starting in 2018 but the original stay is at the island Henriksholm. For a continuous experience the building company behind them, Fridh & Hell Bygg, will sell them but only to those who place them in a unique and beautiful location.
Photography by Jeanna Berger
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