THE DRAWING BOARD-January/February 2011

A solar cabin retreat

This project stems from admiring a camp on a lake in northern Maine. As a longtime sailor, Blas Bruno of Blue Hill–based Bruno Architecture wanted to create a land version of looking through a cabin portal, an affordable “room with a view” to share with his family. What has come from that idea is an off-the-grid, highly insulated home with an open floor plan, a one-bedroom space of approximately 710 square feet. An inexpensive, simply built structure with glass walls toward the view, heat-sink floors, photovoltaics, a pellet stove, LP gas for appliances, a gray-water system, and a composting toilet. The packaged technology and design fundamentals make a simple, inexpensive, efficient building for a retreat, a studio, a guest cottage, or simply a room with a view.