A Tiny Cabin in Finland Is a Creative Temple for Its Filmmaker Owner

As if the views over Lake Porovesi in central Finland weren’t inspiration enough, this shingle-clad workspace is a world unto itself, providing its filmmaker owner with a "private place for appreciating cinema," says architect Teemu Pirinen of Helsinki firm Pirenen Salo Oy.

Beyond its gable form, the hut rejects conventions of Nordic architecture, instead drawing influence from "imaginary universes of adventure movies from the ’80s," says Pirinen, who pursued baroque and mystical themes to achieve a departure from reality. "Movies are all about creating illusions."

To distort the scale of the building, Pirinen covered the hut in tar-coated shingles in a diminutive size. As you approach the building from a boardwalk that leads down from the owner’s home on the property, the hut appears much larger than it really is.

That, in turn, creates an even more surreal illusion—the surrounding woodlands, dominated by towering old pines, are rendered more fairytale-like than they already are.

A black wooden stair built atop the ruins of an ancient stone foundation leads to the hut’s entrance, where a sliding glass door topped with an arched window recalls a church. Inside the basilica-esque structure, the walls are a canvas for the owner’s cherished movie posters, which hang like a church’s altars to saints.

Keeping with the theme, the structure’s central "nave" is open and airy, which gives the owner space to dream. The side aisles were designed as nooks where they can work and concentrate; across from a bookshelf is a worktable, both in oak, with an integrated sofa in a brandy-hued leather.

On the eastern end of the structure, a dark oak ladder ascends to a mezzanine—another space for the owner to dream and create. A circular window draws beams of sunlight inward to illuminate the workspaces below.

More from Pirinen Salo Oy:

A Tiny Glass Cabin Perches for Wilderness Views in Remote Finland

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Pirinen Salo Oy / @pirinensalo