Refuge
Architectural projects that create shelters and retreats in natural landscapes, emphasizing integration with environment and materiality.
Refuge explores how architects design intimate shelters that respond to their natural settings. These projects prioritize material honesty, environmental sensitivity, and the relationship between built structures and surrounding landscapes.
The community examines diverse approaches to refuge design, from fire-resistant volcanic stone structures in Chilean forests to timber pavilions at forest edges and canopy-threaded retreats. Projects range from minimal interventions to more substantial builds, united by their focus on creating meaningful spaces within nature.
Latest journals
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Enzo Sartori Folds a 35 m² Charred Timber Refuge Toward the Andes in Chile's Maule Foothills
In the foothills of Chile's Maule Region, a blackened, faceted shelter fits two bedrooms into 35 m² and opens one glass gable to the Andes.
DRAA Stacks Volcanic Stone into a Fire-Resistant Refuge that Disappears in the Chilean Forest
A 45-square-meter shelter near Pucón draws on pre-Hispanic Andean rock shelters to resist wildfire and merge with the Valdivian rainforest.
Atelier MA Builds a Twisting Timber Pavilion at the Edge of a French Forest Pond
Split chestnut shingles and triangulated larch frames welcome visitors to the Mormal forest in northern France's Avesnois region.
Pedro Moncayo Torres Revives the Primitive Hut on an Ecuadorian Farm for Under $100K
A 175-square-meter stone and timber refuge in Tarqui, Ecuador, channels vernacular building traditions to dissolve into its misty pastoral landscape.
