These seven rustic cabins designed and built by students at the University of Colorado Denver function as base camp for a non-profit focused on wilderness education. Clad in hot-rolled steel, the COBS Year-Round Micro Cabins blend with the surrounding pine forest and remain comfortable even in extremely cold weather.

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The structures were built by 28 students as part of a design-build program called the Colorado Building Workshop. Organized by the architecture school at the University of Colorado Denver, the workshop produced 14 similar structures in 2015.

Related: Modern low-maintenance cabin is a seamless extension of the Puget Sound landscape

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The cabins, each offering around 200 square feet of interior space and 100 square feet of deck, are elevated and supported by metal columns with concrete footings. Sheets of hot-rolled steel, which form low-maintenance rainscreens, envelop structurally insulated panels (SIPs) used for the walls and flat roofs, providing a high degree of thermal insulation.

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Birch plywood line the interior walls to create a warm, cozy atmosphere. All the electrical appliances, including lighting, heating and refrigerators within each structure are powered by a single electrical circuit.

+ Colorado Building Workshop

+ University of Colorado Denver

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Photos by Jesse Kuroiwa