On over four and a half acres abutting a small lake in Maine, a family camp hosted decades of summer gatherings and long-distance reunions. But as friendships multiplied and new generations arrived, Kaplan Thompson Architects’ clients found they had outgrown the house where everyone once fit. They endeavored to add a series of low-impact, seasonal structures adjacent to the original residence to create more space for rest and recreation.

Kaplan Thompson designed three unique cabins to tuck into the forested site’s lakeside foliage. The first two structures were completed by Maine Passive House in 2021, creating private retreats for guests after a long day on the water (these will be featured in MH+D’s upcoming October 2023 issue). The design work is progressing on a third cabin that will complete the camp and serve as a hub for meals, post-tennis cooldowns, and late-night storytelling.

This two-story building design introduces pine- and mahogany-clad gathering spaces on the lower level with a full kitchen, breakfast bar, powder room, and laundry. An expansive screened porch will keep bugs and rain at bay and accommodate the entire family for outdoor dining. An upper-level bunkhouse, which will sleep eight, recalls a treehouse, with branched rafters and integrated climbing elements to access the beds and a lofted play space for children. 

Siting and landscape design for the project is being led by Aceto Landscape Architects and will join the new cabin to a hardscaped firepit at the heart of the camp. Though rugged enough to weather Maine’s seasons, the building will touch the land lightly with a concrete pier foundation that maintains the existing grading and allows water—and critters!—to pass naturally beneath it. Strategic placement of the piers also avoids damaging the root systems of the mature pines that
speckle the site.  

Location: Oxford County
Architect: Kaplan Thompson Architects 
Builder: Maine Passive House
Landscape Architect: Aceto Landscape Architects 
Construction Complete: May 2025