APOLLO CABIN
Vegårshei Municipality, Norway

Type: Comissioned project
Role: Project Architect

Team: Don Lawrence, Maria Makri (Post production: Carlos Martinez Bayona)

As the world pushes for a sustainable future, the Apollo Cabin sets a new local standard for sustainable design and construction in Vegårshei. Nestled within the forest retreat area, the cabin also provides panoramic experience and contact with the surrounding nature.

The Apollo Cabin is oriented to maximise the availability of light and allow passive heating through solar gain, while the foliage from the nearby trees in the surrounding forest and natural cross ventilation prevent overheating in summer.

The entire building is designed to rest on post foundation thereby reducing ground disturbance and ensuring that the existing local ecology is unharmed by the new construction.The regulations only permits single storey buildings in the area, however since the site is sloped, we negotiated a solution where the building's profile closely follows the sloping landscape. The result was two separate levels connected with a stair. This turned out to be a happy "misadventure" since we were able to use the roof of the lower level as a generous terrace.⁠