Inspired by wild nature, placed on the edge of a bog, this building is nothing like your regular hotel room. It is located among birch trees, with bogland flooding knee-deep during high water – making it possible to start a canoe trip straight from the terrace. A boardwalk leads to the terrace in front of the elevated house. The entire house is covered with terraces – a lower morning terrace, gigantic steps leading to the roof and the night terrace at the height of the treetops, for enjoying the sunset, stargazing and birdwatching. The house is intended for 1-2 visitors at a time, offering maximum comfort and privacy – it isn’t visible from anywhere apart from the boardwalk. The sharp angles of the building’s triangular shapes blend into the surrounding bogland forest, due to its dark brown ash walls.

The minuscule Maidla hotel is situated on the site of an old manor, allowing guests to explore historical buildings and a picturesque landscape. The tiny treehouse-inspired building is a short walk away from the historical site, tucked inside the forest edge, to fit the Client’s brief of a private hideaway as in much touch with nature as possible.

The house is built around birch trees, with the goal to not cause them any harm, elevated 1m above the ground, and driven into the soft soil with 7m long screws. To fit the delicate plot best, the shape of the house is irregular, divided into several triangles, circling around the bed area. An unusual floor plan allows for a convenient entrance with a storm porch.

The triangular bedroom, facing wild nature, provides panoramic views of the scenic bogscape. The fireplace forms the focal point and the space can be divided by drapes into several functions – a bedroom and a separate work or rest area with small sofas. A small bathroom includes floor-to-ceiling mirrors and an incineration toilet. The area under the steps leading to the roof accommodates unheated maintenance space for equipment.

Mainly built from timber on location, couple of steel beams and posts have been used to make the structure more rigid. The façade, roof and terraces of the building are covered in a single monochrome material: dark, durable thermo-treated ash, with the goal to make the structure as low-maintenance as possible. As the house is located on a difficult-to-reach edge of the bog, any future repairs / construction work would require special logistics, thus making maximum durability highly desirable.

All used materials are locally-sourced as much as possible. The interior of the tiny hotel is meticulously considered in the same style as the exterior – with the goal to blend in with nature, offer comfort and quality in materials. Careful attention to detail is paid at every step, from ceramics down to the bathrobes.

The Maidla Nature Resort is a small and unique accommodation complex located on the grounds of Maidla Manor near Rapla, Estonia. The main concept behind the Nature Villa is to offer luxurious accommodation nestled in beautiful natural surroundings, with the villa’s proximity to the historic Maidla Manor and its service buildings offering a special experience for those seeking something more interesting than a traditional hotel room. The location of the Nature Villa allows guests to enjoy peaceful solitude, with natural views that offer plenty of variety. The landscape along the road to the house is also varied, taking guests past historic manor houses, alongside the stream and through the forest before reaching the villa, which is situated on the very edge of the bog. Although offering many unique possibilities, the bog also made the construction work more complicated – because the load-bearing layer of the soil lies at a depth of six or seven meters, the house had to be built on a pile foundation. In addition, the river that winds its way close to the bog floods the area each spring, so the house is raised to a height of one meter and accessible from a boardwalk to ensure that guests always arrive with dry feet.

Before commissioning the building, Ragnar Sass had visited several unique treehouse-type projects around the world and as a starting point, he envisaged a small, luxurious accommodation facility that would fulfill all the traditional functions of a hotel – a space that’s hidden among nature but capable of accommodating a lobby, wardrobe, toilet, bed and other necessities. Nowadays, the trend of building small houses is receiving a lot of attention around the world, as they have a smaller footprint while also being comfortable to live in and easy to manage. The objective at Maidla was for the Nature Villa to be as small as possible. This means that every square inch has a role to play, with each minute detail carefully thought through, from the width of the bed and the amount of space around it – the room needs to be large enough for a small hotel refrigerator, a suitcase and clothes – to solutions that cleverly conceal the service installations. In other words, this building has been designed with precision from the inside out.

Design
Mari Hunt, b210 Architects

Photography
Elvo Jakobson

Products
Benchmark by Thermory
Thermo-ash wall paneling. Profile C7J. 
Thermo-ash cladding. Profile C4J.
Thermo-ash decking. Profile D4.
Thermo-ash flooring. Profile F3.