The Digest | New Jersey Magazine
Issue link: https://magazines.vuenj.com/i/1180832
Sunset Cabin Lake Simcoe, Canada 50 miles outside of Toronto is Lake Simcoe. Here, Taylor Smith Architects were tasked with building a simple cabin with lakeside and, as the name indicates, sunset views. To prevent intruding on the land, they built the cabin in an empty parking lot, numbered each piece, and assembled it on its current plot. Sunset Cabin features a green roof, meant to help it blend into the woodland around it, while offering unobstructed views of the lake from its one-room interior. Featuring only a bed with built-in drawers, a wall of storage cabinets and a wood burning stove, the owners wanted this petite addition to be used as a private retreat from their main home on the property. As seasons change, so does Sunset Cabin's façade. When the woodland vegetation is in full bloom, the trees drape across the abode camouflaging it from plain view. In the colder months, its horizontal cedar slats contrast yet complement the vertical nature of the surrounding trees. Half-Tree House Beaver Brook Preserve, New York When Zach Klein bought property on the Beaver Brook Preserve back in 2015, he, and soon aer, his wife Courtney did not realize a cabin in the woods would turn into a community. Although they don't picture themselves settling at Beaver Brook anytime soon, the property and its surrounding creek, suspension bridge, bunkers and tub were all built by their own hands and the help of various volunteers. Zach's original purpose for the cabin was to take a step back from a world in tech and finance and reconnect with nature. e couple began by inviting fellow creatives to join them and hang in the woods for weekends at a time. Eventually, the Klein's needed some help making sure the property was structurally sound. ey were able to work with a team of ripe professionals and eager amateurs to secure the award-winning cabin, and eventually build the rest of the preserve. Today, members are welcome to visit the preserve and add on anything they want to the property, with the condition that it does not cause irreversible change to the cabin. Photo by Noah Kalina Photo by Ben Rahn/A-Frame Inc. V U E N J . C O M 67