The Box House, an off-grid cabin in Australia | Nicholas Murcutt

The Box House is a basic cabin in the Australian bush several hundred kilometers south of Sydney. Its owners started by camping on the land but wanted a shelter that was a step up from tenting. Designed by architect Nicholas Murcutt, one of the founding partners of Neeson Murcutt Architects, the small cabin resembles a timber barn built with a modernist cube shape.

The Box House is a deceptively simple wooden box raised slightly on concrete piers. The north wall is fully glazed, likely requiring some clever structural engineering, while the other sides are mostly solid with just a few small windows covered by wooden shutters matching the Eucalyptus siding. The cabin has a 36 m² (388 ft²) main floor plus a loft that is somewhat less than half that size. The walls have no insulation or inside finish, leaving the spotted gum framing on view.

Rainwater collected in an elevated tank provides water. When first built, however, the cabin did not have electricity, hot water or a bathroom (they used an outdoor bathtub and the neighbor’s outhouse). Those luxuries were added over time, with the bathroom located outside the cabin in a storage shed topped by solar panels.

Have a great weekend!

Click a thumbnail to view a larger photo, then click on the photo to advance to the next one.

Photographs by Brett Boardman. Via Busyboo.

Text copyright 2014 SmallHouseBliss. All Rights Reserved.