Arno Project
Design-Build Cabin
Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec
2020—2021
Personal Project in Collaboration with Michael Kurt Mayer
On March 16th, 2020, after my exchange semester at University College London was cut short due to the pandemic, I returned to Canada with a friend who quarantined with me at my family’s cottage in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec. With our summer internships cancelled, we decided to use the time to gain a more hands-on understanding of architecture, by undertaking the design and construction of a small cabin in the woods.
The site, a one-minute hike from the shore of Lac Papineau, sits at the exact point where the houses below disappear completely beneath the forest canopy, marking a quiet threshold between the inhabited and the wild.
From the outset, the project was guided by three priorities: sustainability, material efficiency, and a tight budget. Prior to breaking ground, we conducted a site analysis and built a complete digital model of the structure — every joist, beam, post, and stud — enabling precise material take offs and near-zero off-cut waste, all while keeping costs to a minimum.
Throughout the design-build process, we tracked the origins of every wood material used, sourcing as locally as possible — working directly with regional sawmills and avoiding imported materials wherever we could. By salvaging the windows from previous constructions, upcycling cedar fences from a local farm into cladding boards, and recycling joists from a nearby collapsed deck, we were able to keep costs low and our carbon footprint to a minimum. The map below traces each material back to its source.
The design attempts to make the most out of a 200-square-foot footprint. By sinking the bed into the floor and opting for a 6-foot-wide barn door, the amount of usable space was increased. Operable windows along the rear wall were incorporated specifically to allow for cross-ventilation with the barn door when partially open.
Throughout this process, we gained a firsthand understanding of how a building, albeit a small one, actually comes together.
And on July 23rd, 2021, one day before I left for New Haven to go to Yale, the cabin was completed.
All design and construction, including of the foundations, framing, roofing, plumbing, wiring and lighting, was completed by the two of us alone.
