Arno Project
Graduate | Undergraduate
Studio | Elective | Personal Project
1st | 2nd | 3rd Year, 1st | 2nd Semester
Partner: Michael Kurt Mayer
Instructor: 10% Architecture School, 90% YouTube
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. Given that our summer internships were cancelled, we decided to use the opportunity to gain a more practical skill and understanding of architecture, by undertaking the design and construction of a small cabin in the woods.
We would eventually go on to receive a grant and mentorship through the McGill Engine’s Tech Accelerator program and began constructing the 200-square-foot prototype, the Arno Project, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec in May 2020.
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. By salvaging the windows from previous constructions, upcycling shipping pallets into cedar cladding boards and recycling joists from a nearby collapsed deck, we were able to keep costs low and our carbon footprint to a minimum.
Throughout this process, we were able to understand the lifecycle of a building in a profound way.
And on July 23rd, 2021, one day before I left for New Haven to come 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.
