Spending some quality time at a peaceful and isolated cabin in the woods and enjoying snowboarding on the mountain ranges are a lot of Canadians ideal vacation for the winter. Alpine Cabin by Scott & Scott Architects in Port Hardy is located at the northern end of Vancouver Island. It is a beautiful winter retreat for relaxing and experiencing snowboarding.
Scott & Scott Architects, owned by the couple, Susan and David Scott, won the 2014 Architizer A+ award in the “Architecture + Self Initiated Projects” category for the Alpine cabin they made for their own use.
Image courtesy of Scott & Scott Architects via Archdaily
“The cabin was constructed out of a desire to directly design and build as a singular act, to work with the freedom one experiences when snowboarding, and in a manner which is centered in the adventure and not bound heavily in pre-determination,” say the architects, Susan and David Scott.
Their intention of creating the freedom of snowboarding through the structure of the cabin seems to be pretty successful. The cabin is lifted off the ground on six columns in order to avoid snow accumulation and express the feeling of snowboarding. The columns are made of douglas fir tree trunks and the exterior is cladded in cedar, which blend in with the surrounding forest, giving it more of a remote feel.
What is more amazing is that the architects built the project themselves with the help of friends and no use of machine excavation.
Image courtesy of Scott & Scott Architects via Archdaily
Image courtesy of Scott & Scott Architects via Archdaily
The cabin doesn’t miss a chance to promote the Canadian feel. The classic Hudson’s Bay blanket on the bed and a fur cover on the rocking chair definitely say Canadian. To learn more about the history of Hudson’s Bay blanket, click Here.
Image courtesy of Scott & Scott Architects via Archdaily
It comes as no surprise that the cabin is fully off-grid since the purpose was to create a remote snowboard cabin. So how does the cabin stay warm in the middle of a freezing forest? The solution is a wood burning stove. It is used for heating and candles are there to light the place. Also, equipment and supplies are carried on a sledge to the site for most of the times of the year. Otherwise, there is a gravel road that is open for five months.
Image courtesy of Scott & Scott Architects via Archdaily
This cabin would be the envy of a lot of Canadians, who want to get away and relax in an isolated place in order to enjoy snowboarding. For others, it could be a hassle to carry equipment on a sledge and fetch water to get the wood burning stove working.
In my opinion, the beauty of the cabin is, it is isolated and almost hidden in the surrounding woods. Even with no electricity, getting to spend days in this remote cabin is as thrilling as snowboarding itself.
To visit the Scott & Scott Architects Limited, click Here .
Researched and Written by Ulama Hassan, undergraduate student at OCAD University in the Environmental Design program.
