A dark cedar screen wraps the exterior of Forest Studio, a compact, gable-roof building by Canadian architecture studio Little Giant that can serve as a workspace or a domestic dwelling.
The project is located on Vancouver Island in western Canada and is set on a sloped, wooded site overlooking the sea. It shares a property with a main residence, near the city of Victoria.
Designed to be adaptable to changing needs, the 90-square-metre building currently serves as an office for the project's architect – Little Giant, a Calgary-based firm that "embraces an aesthetic of natural modernism" in its work.
In the future, the building could serve as a studio for an artist or musician, as a guest house or as rentable tenant space.
The team drew upon the "spirit of a treehouse" while conceiving the two-storey, gable-roof building.
To negotiate the site's steep topography, the building sits atop a recessed concrete base, enabling it to "float over the forest understory".
The grey colouring of the concrete reflects the rocky outcrops found in the area, the team added.
The cabin's upper portion is wrapped in a screen made of darkened cedar, which blends with the surrounding terrain.
"During the hours of daylight, the charcoal and obsidian tones allow the building to settle into the landscape, mimicking the depth of the forest's shadows and the textured bark of the surrounding firs", said Little Giant founder Mark Burkart.
"As night falls, this dark shell recedes entirely, allowing the internal light to permeate the screen and achieve a translucent lantern effect."
To enter the building, one travels along an elevated path leading to the front door.
Inside, the upper level contains an open room used as a work area by Little Giant. If switched to domestic use, the room could serve as a living and dining area.
The upper level also holds a kitchenette, a powder room and a small room with a Murphy bed. A balcony offers elevated views of the terrain.
The lower floor contains a flexible space that is currently a meeting room, but could become a bedroom. There is also a small bar, storage space and a bathroom with a shower.
Throughout the cabin, the team used light-hued finishes and a muted colour palette, aiming to achieve a feeling of "luminous neutrality". Materials include hemlock ceilings and travertine countertops.
To design the project, the architects pulled from several contextual sources, including the quiet and sheltered feeling of the forest, as well as the vegetation found there – moss, fern, and cedar and Douglas fir trees.
Read: Bricault Design shapes house to "share a language with the surrounding peaks" in Canada
They were also influenced by the area's vernacular design traditions.
"Drawing from an abstracted vernacular of the Pacific Northwest, the architectural style looks to the spare architectural language of historic timber mills and coastal canneries, simplifying and abstracting the details into something both modern and familiar," said Burkart.
To minimise the project's disruption to the landscape, the team used a "surgical approach" to carefully place the building within a stand of trees.
Additional concerns included a need to optimise views of the ocean and to establish a sense of privacy and autonomy for both the cabin and main house on the property. Each building needed to feel "like a secluded retreat".
Forest Studio is meant to reflect the firm's commitment to designing in harmony with nature.
"We see ourselves as not only architects and designers, but as naturalists and explorers," said Burkart.
"Our studio is a philosophical movement away from the noise of the city, technology and AI. It embraces nature by touching the ground lightly, and it's all about leaning into 'quiet'."
Other projects by Little Giant include a retro-style Japanese restaurant in Banff, Canada, that was designed in collaboration with Frank Architecture. Paper lanterns, plaid curtains and wood-covered walls are among the design elements.
The photography is by Chris Amat.
Project credits:
Architecture and interior design: Little Giant
Contractor: Maximillian Huxley
