Walden, a cabin in the woods

The study Aedificare present Walden, a 32-square-meter apartment with an interior design project based on noble materials and a client excited about their refuge. The result is a “a cabin in the heart of Santander”.

From the studio they comment that if Henry David Thoreau's 'Walden' (1854) “if it had been written in the year 2020, it would very likely describe that little refuge that we have all needed in these times we've had to live through.”.

The essay talks about a 3x4.5 meter cabin built next to a pond to which Thoreau moves to live life intensely from beginning to end for two years, two months, and two days. Thus arises a literary experiment that becomes a defense of free and wild life, as well as a fierce critique of society and its impositions, which have barely changed since that time.

With this backdrop, Aedificare proposes “a place where the superfluous or unnecessary has no place, where you truly realize what is essential for living.”.

Upon entering, we find ourselves in an open-plan space that accommodates the living room, dining room, and kitchen, and behind a curtain, we discover a bunk bed with small indentations that serve as nightstands.

Behind the dining table, two disguised doors can be glimpsed, as they are paneled like the wall itself. These provide access to the bedroom and the bathroom.

From Aedificare they comment that «ethe bathroom of our city cabin had to be simple and functional, the Madrid sink @bathco and the mosaic @hisbalit unicolor made it super easy for us.

Photograph: David Montero