On Blakely Island in Washington’s San Juan Island Archipelago, Seattle-based Wittman Estes has created a 400-square-foot guest cabin that makes a small footprint feel remarkably open. Suspended on stilts above the forest, the compact cabin looks out across the Salish Sea while sitting between a large glacial erratic boulder and a mature Douglas fir tree.
The 16-by-20-foot open studio takes inspiration from the tradition of the tiny house in the woods, including Thoreau’s Walden Cabin and Le Corbusier’s 1952 Cabanon. Inside, everything has a clear purpose, with a small kitchen, Murphy bed, bathroom and loft for two bunks packed into the compact volume.
Building With the Site in Mind
The rocky, steep shoreline presented practical challenges as well as ecological ones. Construction machinery would have been difficult to bring to the remote island, so many components were prefabricated off-site at the contractor’s yard in Everett.
The structural steel frames were designed around a modular approach, allowing them to be transported by barge across the water before being lifted into position on a minimal point foundation. The cabin’s Western red cedar siding was milled from trees on Blakely Island and left to weather naturally.
A Tiny Structure Suspended in the Forest
The cabin’s elevated form is one of its defining architectural features. Instead of sitting directly on the rocky terrain, the structure hovers above it on stilts, allowing the compact footprint to occupy the site with minimal impact.
The Bridge That Leads to the Door
Arrival is part of the experience here. A narrow suspended metal walkway moves through the trees before reaching the cabin, creating a gradual transition from the forest to the compact interior…