Huanggang, Hubei Province, China
Located in the Fragrant Lake of Huanggang City, Hubei Province, the Sprite Cabins by Advanced Architecture Lab (AaL) and Wiki World are adjacent to the waterfront, with a wide field of vision, surrounded by a bamboo forest, whose overall form of the cabin comes from the geometric logic of natural crystals.
The owners hope that the house can fulfill their child’s imagination of a novel wooden house, and the lake and forest seemed to be inhabited by elves in the morning mist.
What kind of wooden house would the sprites live in here?
The plan is three hexagons sharing one side, which are used as the bedroom, living room, and bathroom respectively.
The cutting surface of the crystal is transformed into an entrance and an irregular viewing window according to the needs of the view.
The tallest crystal is the bedroom, and the design fully utilizes the clearance of the irregular space, setting up a loft that kids love the most.
The entire building is constructed of laminated wood, and each irregular component and node is designed and customized through digital technology, achieving 100% full assembly construction.
The skin of the cabin is made of fish-skin-like wood tiles and mirror aluminum plates. The lakeside features a rustic wood texture, while the entrance side backed by the bamboo forest uses mirror aluminum plates to reduce the pressure of the building on the environment.
The two seemingly conflicting materials complement each other and blend the cabin with the environment.
Wiki World continues the natural construction concept, we retain every tree in the site and keep the path and texture of the original woodland and farmland, all the cabins are self-developed prefabricated wooden structures, built together by the team and the user.
The sprite’s cabins are located on a secluded peninsula, providing enough seclusion to the point of feeling lonely.
The spirituality of the sprites comes from the pointed shape when viewed from the waterfront, the rustic wooden surface, and the translucent irregular windows.
In the evening, the lake surface reflects the nimble lights, and in nature, the square shape may seem somewhat out of place.
The sprite’s Home is a purely wooden structure with a fireplace inside.
The owners can walk freely in the space with bare feet.
The space in the crystal structure rises high without the concept of floors.
Lying in bed or sitting on the ground, one can see the nearby water surface through the triangular windows.
Wiki World has been committed to returning to natural life through natural construction.
The sprite cabin continues such a natural wild house experiment, jumping out of the inertia of the size of the thinking, focusing on the relationship between living behavior and environment, the answer of space must be far from the daily living experience, even a little paranoid.
“Small” brings us closer to the material, so we are more sensitive.
Now that we are in the forest, let’s go barefoot for a day and listen to the sound of dead leaves being crushed on the terrace.
Natural buildings can be built like Lego.
Little cabins, like building blocks, were placed in the forest.
We stick to the original wildwood construction technique that we hand-fired the façade of the carbonized wood boards.
The cabins are all connected by small metal components that can be repeatedly assembled.
We try to create a precise relationship between the cabins and the environment in nature.
Each wooden cabin is elevated above the ground, and no walls or artificial landscapes are used.
Nature is the best package.
Project: The Sprite Cabins
Architects: Advanced Architecture Lab (AaL)and Wiki World
Design Team: Wei Mu, Yingchun Zhang, Baorong Wu, Zhaoxian Feng, Jiaqi Li, and Liwen Tao
Client: Hongan Fushan Real Estate Development
Photographers: Arch-Exist
