Header: Andrew Pogue
The Wenatchee River Cabin is a small wooden home built deep within the pine forests of Washington, having been designed for a nature lover by Wittman Estes, with Matt Wittman and Julia Frost at the helm.
A long background story
More than a decade and a half ago, in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Washington, a nearly 1/2-acre property was bought to serve as a base camp for outdoor adventures. The owner spent the years camping there and enjoying the land, often with friends, having become intimately acquainted with the landscape and the region.
Just prior to the pandemic, he decided it would be the perfect place to build a small cabin that would act as a simple base to enjoy the forest and the river. As design and construction began and work-from-home became the norm, the owner, who was living in the greater Seattle area, began spending much more time at the property, eventually opting to live there full-time once the cabin was complete.
Influenced by the client and the forest
Owner involvement during construction was a priority, so the design needed to stay simple and minimal to ensure everyone could follow it along. The 746-square-foot, one-bedroom cabin is made with durable materials, including concrete and steel, and is completely personalised to the conditions of the National Forest.
Its form and construction are shaped by the surrounding landscape, including the nearby river and the wider forest ecosystem. As the cabin sits within the river’s floodplain, the main floor is raised ten feet above the ground on six concrete columns. This ensures the owner and cabin will never be caught by surprise by rising water levels, but instead admire the occurrence from above.
The layout, the client’s metalwork and the river
The cabin is composed of three levels: the ground level with its covered parking space where the client can work on his vintage Bronco with protection from rain and snow; the middle level, which is essentially one large space (living, dining and kitchen) with a full bathroom; and the top level, where the main bedroom, office, half-bathroom and loft with a cantilevered steel deck are located.
A single window wall, measuring twenty feet wide and twenty-four feet high, opens the upper levels to striking views towards the river while ensuring privacy against the neighbouring properties. In the bedroom, a small opening looks across the living room and out to the river beyond. The owner, a lifelong metalworker, made several parts of the interior himself, including the raw steel kitchen countertops and backsplash, the hemlock and steel dining table, and the tube-steel and metal-mesh guardrails.
The living area includes a wood-burning fireplace set beneath a fir-framed loft. The interior finishes are plain, allowing the changing natural light, the surrounding nature and the owner’s artwork to do the heavy aesthetic lifting. Originally built as a one-bedroom weekend cabin, the house is now used as a full-time residence.
Project information
Architect: Wittman Estes
Design Principal: Matt Wittman
Project Team: Julia Frost (design development)
Structural Engineer: JWE Engineering
Construction: Steve Strode Construction and Dan Wheeler
