Cork Cabin

The Cork Cabin is a garden studio built for a landscape architect, a beautiful bookend of the stunning rear-garden of their family home in Sussex.

The goal was to celebrate wood everywhere in this small building. The expanded cork insulation and green Douglas-Fir frame are both exposed internally, to benefit from their aesthetic qualities and reduce the need for internal finishes, helping to justify the cost.

The dark chocolate coloured Cork is framed by the bright Douglas-Fir studs with a robust, solid-oak base creating a rhythmic and joyous composition.

For simplicity and reduced wastage, the dimension of the cork block (500mm*1000mm*100mm) was the starting point for the structural grid from which layout in plan and section were generated creating a sense of visual harmony between the frame, windows and, built-it furniture. In plan, the inset entrance door allows the small space to be divided and creates a large corner window, fully filled by an oak desk, overlooking the covered entrance deck and the luscious garden beyond.

Externally, the thick batten & board Sweet-Chestnut cladding creates a robust, natural finish, embedding the building in its ‘place’, where there is a long and rich tradition of chestnut-coppice woodlands. The Douglas-Fir and Sweet-Chestnut were grown, felled and milled within 20 miles of site and delivered to site green.

This building is a true collaboration between client, designers, makers and local suppliers. Every detail in the cork cabin is bespoke from the fired clay tiles to the willow log baskets - a real ode to craft and making.