ORO Editions

Pine Forest Cabin, situated in its eponymous biome, offers superb views to the surrounding woods via large windows with carefully articulated glazing divisions. While designed to connect inhabitant via view to the forest, the scale of the window framing is delicate, more expressed and related visually to the trees outside. The scale, siting and minimal tree-cutting give a connected visual relationship to Nature. The structural support members mimic the verticality of the exterior trees and, in form and material, suggest continuity and arboreal origins. From the outside, the house further blends into the site context, appearing neither in stark contrast nor incognito, rather, in subtle conversation with the forest. Trees are not clear-cut to maximize a view to beyond; rather the developed view is layered. The tempering of both internal and external views, along with scale and siting, help promote the overarching idea of participating in the natural landscape (Wheeler et al. 2009; Olson et al. 2008; Olson 2004).

Post-modern thought emphasizes understanding all phenomena in context. Rather than the analytic subdivision, understanding a building requires placing it into its larger context. Contextual thinking profoundly impacts designing views to and views from buildings. To Moderns, views become visual resources to be consumed—thus extensive glass intended to connect occupants to Nature, yet in all non-visual ways isolating them.

A view though expressed, naturally finished, vertically-dominant wood framing recalls the elements' origins in the view.

The visual nature of the pine trees on this site, with trunks of spare verticality and airy branches in the upper reaches....would provide little opportunity for discreetly placing a structure. Instead, the residence had to become an object that was of its surroundings, embodying the characteristics of the landscape.

—Beth Wheeler 2009