Dry Creek Cabin: Minimalist Retreat by Fieldwork Design and Architecture

The Dry Creek Cabin is sited 2,200 feet above the Columbia River Gorge and the town of White Salmon, Washington. Approached from above, the cabin is dug into the hillside with the roof floating above the landscape, creating an entry portal and presenting a quiet and almost invisible facade to the road.

Moving down the concrete entry steps carved into the hillside, one enters a breezeway, or dogtrot, that delineates the two pods of the cabin: the primary living pod to the SE and the guest pod and spa to the NW. Much like moving through the nearby slot canyons, the dogtrot frames the views of the Gorge below and Mt. Hood beyond and provides refuge and protection from the ever-present Gorge winds in winter, while allowing the cooling summer breezes to pass through.

The cabin is a study of old and new: both of the ancient landscapes of the Columbia River Gorge and of preserving and emphasizing existing architectural elements with the insertion of new architecture. After deconstructing an existing cabin on the site, the design team reused much of the existing structure by repurposing the existing wall framing and concrete foundation, slab, and retaining walls.

A new gabled volume was inserted onto the existing foundation wall and the interior was clad with local gray-washed Lodgepole Pine, creating contrast between the old and new and elevating a modest cabin into a quiet and minimalist retreat.