Architect Jesse Garlick's Sky House is an off-the-grid vacation retreat that offers remarkable views of the Cascade foothills in Oroville, Washington. Located several miles from the nearest power-grid, the house utilizes solar power and high thermal mass walls to maintain optimal indoor temperatures, while a combination of solar power and propane are used for water heating and cooking.


Sky House, Jesse Garlick, PLATFORM architecture + design, trail cabin, cabin, vacation house, off-the-grid house, prefab housing, prefab facade, self-sustaining house, solar power, natural ventilation

White Rock Cabin, dubbed Sky House, is a 850-square-feet cabin set within the semi-arid foothills of North-Eastern Washington State. Because of the remote location, the structure and cladding panels were prefabricated off site and transported on a single tractor trailer. The entire structure was erected in two and a half days using a 15 ton mobile crane and a crew of 4. Details and other adjustments were completed over the course of three months by a smaller crew of 2-4 people.

Related: Tiny Off-Grid Cabin in Maine is Completely Self-Sustaining

The two-story interior features various sustainable strategies like stack ventilation and optimal positioning of openings. Inspired by old trail cabins, the daybed on the ground floor is separated from the living room with curtains for guest accommodation. The steel and cross-laminated timber facade blends perfectly into the surrounding weathered bedrock, and offers views of the distant lake, sloping knoll and an abandoned homestead cabin located downhill from the house.

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Via Ignant