Photo: Benjamin Benschneider

Chicken Point Cabin

Northern Idaho

The clients’ directive for Chicken Point Cabin was simple—make the house as open to the water as possible. The design response to this challenge was as direct as the request: a large pivoting picture window on the water side that literally opens the house to the landscape.

Chicken point sketch
Chicken point sketch
Chicken point sketch
Chicken Point Cabin

A manual hand-crank opens the 20-by-30-foot window wall. Employing a counterbalance principle through a set of gears, like that of a bicycle, allows a minimal input of force to pivot the six-ton steel-and-glass window. Although the gizmo employs sophisticated mechanical engineering, the result is not unlike the opening of a tent flap, allowing fresh air and unimpeded views to enter the cabin.

Chicken Point Cabin loft

A plywood loft containing the primary suite is suspended into the concrete-block shell and overlooks the living space, while additional bedrooms and service spaces are saddlebagged on the two sides of the main volume.

Chicken Point Cabin is a tactile house that asks you to physically engage before it opens up, dissolving the boundaries between inside and outside. The big movable glass and steel window is an unapologetic reminder of the wonder of old-fashioned, hands-on mechanical physics, something we often take for granted today. It excites our visual senses, and it reacquaints us with the magic of the physical forces that surround us.Tom Kundig, FAIA, RIBA
Design Principal
Longbranch

Cabin at Longbranch

Longbranch, Washington

Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

Denver, Colorado

Something isn't loading properly.

Please and try again, or use the main menu above.