A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

Seattle Architect’s Swell Rainforest Retreat Started In 1959 With $500 From Dad

(via) Jim Olson, co-founder of Seattle’s accomplished Olson Kundig Architects, has been building a house in the Pacific Northwest wilds near Longbranch, WA since 1959. In the short film above by Nowness, he gives a tour of the building and shares the property’s genesis:

“When I was 18, I was just a first-year architecture student. My dad gave me $500, and he said, ‘Go build a bunk house in the woods.'”

He started with just a 14ft by 14ft cabin, which he has subsequently built upon and modified in successive remodelings (1981, 1997, 2003, 2014) that have resulted in the stunner below. Take a look…

df4617d0b7a5401dabe083eb86a8cd7f 8029e76801291afbfa00afd45e98c0c5 d6af3f59394f744c91d754b6aabcafa3 1491e6ff532048a57e89c57b2fe7b00c 278da8ce197b2228a9faedc0a28817ef 3d5c6aa02b9c850151f3242345a78113

SPACED // Tiny ‘Nature Villa’ in the Woods

It lacks a kitchen but we'd happily cook over a fire nearby just so we could sleep in that bed and hang on that deck...

Contemplating Life on a Handmade ‘Floating Island’

The big deck holds a BBQ, a herb garden, a hammock, and several other wonderful things besides (like a baby blue canoe).

We’d Like to Self-Isolate in This Off-Grid Tiny House on the Other Side of the World

To be able to escape the city for the sake of social distancing is a dream worth having in these weird and dangerous times.

We Dig These Cabins Designed For Sustaining Good Times in the Wild

The cool and remote constructions take full advantage of photovoltaic panels, grey/black water treatment and rainwater collection.