Bronze Architecture · 2022

Trekronaa Tiny Cottage

by Manuela Hardy

Bronze A' Design Award 2022 in Architecture
CLIENT: Henrik Stokkeland
Estimated Number of Design Views: 17,125
Verification code 3B4A622502 · Verify this award

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release

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About Trekronaa Tiny Cottage

Trekronaa is a tiny cottage built among pine trees in Ogna, Norway. The cabin rests on a steel frame supported by three steel legs on concrete, so the structure appears to float and touches the ground lightly. A wooden frame is clad with accoya, and a ramp leads to the entrance and carries the water and electricity lines. Within 15 square meters, the plan holds a small bathroom, a kitchen, a dining table, a bench and beds for four to five people. The design joins comfort with close contact to the surrounding forest. The cottage can be moved without leaving a footprint.

About the Bronze A' Design Award

Trekronaa Tiny Cottage is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Trekronaa Tiny Cottage is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Trekronaa Tiny Cottage splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.

Press Kit

Unique Properties: The visitors coming to trekronaa can lie down under the duvet while viewing the pine forest and starry sky - and wake up to the chirping of birds, the stream that trickles and the sun that shine through the trees. A place where you can get a piece of your life back.
Dimensions & Packaging: The cabins are 15 square meters big, with a small bathroom, kitchen and sleeps 4-5 people.
Tags: treehouses, micro house, micro cabin, hut, tree hut, small living, compact living
Production Technology: The treehouses are built on a steel frame, with 3 steel legs on concrete, leaving them hardly interfering with nature.
Design Challenge: The hardest part of the design process was to fit a bathroom, kitchen, dining table, bench and beds for 4-5 people, and using the space in a most efficient way. Another challenge was the placement of electricity and water, with lays in the ramp. For the carpenter, one of the biggest challenges was all of the angles, especially on the bottom of the cabin.
Research: The architect and client had studied some similar treehouse-projects before starting on the Trekronaa. Still, this project would be inspired by its own concept, looking to fulfill the needs visitors would have or apprectiate on a visit like this. The pinecone was an early object that inspired the architect, in addition to the urge of designing playful childhood treehouses.
Inspiration: The pine cone was part of the inspiration for me as the architect. Also I wanted to build on my childhood dream of carpentry wooden cabins in the woods. I wanted to take it a step further - namely mixing comfort with nostalgia and closeness to nature.
Project Duration: The project started with a site visit in November 2020, and was completed dec 2021. It is situated in Ogna, Norway.
Operation Flow: The cabin can be moved without leaving a footprint. It is built with a wooden frame on top of a steel frame, and cladded with accoya. The steel legs make it look like it floats in the air. A ramp leads to the cabin entrance, which feels safe for visitors compared to other possible ways to enter the cabin. Staying in the cabin can be compared to a hotel experience, the difference is the direct contact to the forest and the surrounding nature.
Image Credits: Damir Fattakhov
Manuela Hardy