SENSITIVITY

An off-grid cabin, perched atop 10 sloped acres of redwoods on the California coast. Designed, built and owned by partners Jeff Waldman and Molly Fiffer, and constructed over the course of one year, by the pair and their friends.

Clad in local redwood siding, with birch plywood walls and exposed Douglas fir timbers, the cabin is outfitted with large doors that allow the cabin and deck to function as a single indoor/outdoor space.

The couple had no prior design or construction experience, beyond the 18 months of smaller projects on the property, which led up to the cabin build. They spent a year salvaging most of the windows and the panoramic door, which the cabin was designed around. The rest of the design was informed by their capabilities and by the constraints of the site.

To reduce costs, the kitchen was constructed from standard wire shelving and mounted to Ikea countertops with closet rod hardware. The cooler slides out on casters and the propane stove is a utilitarian RV model. The shelves, bench, and stow-away loft ladder are made from slabs of madrone, which were chainsaw milled from trees felled on the cabin site. The redwood timbers and siding came from a neighboring sawyer.

The communal weekend getaway, shared among dozen of friends, also features a series of suspended tree decks, elevated outdoor shower, wood fired hot tub, and a host of camp activities, such as workshops, axe throwing and archery.