Liten Hytte Explores Compact Cabin Living on Lake Michigan
Liten Hytte is a compact house in MI, United States, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson for family life near Lake Michigan. Completed in 2024, the project draws on the area’s modest cabins and cottages, using a narrow plan, durable materials, and built-in flexibility to support both everyday ease and larger summer gatherings.
About Liten Hytte
Liten Hytte sits on the shore of Lake Michigan, near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. The area is a popular summer destination, with modest clapboard cabins and cottages within walking distance of the lake’s clear water and sandy beaches.
During an early site visit, the architects and client began sketching ideas together at a nearby tavern, focusing on a compact and efficient dwelling. The brief returned to the memory of an earlier family cabin nearby, where a small footprint still made room for a full house each summer. That sense of communal ease carries into Liten Hytte, or “little cabin,” a name that nods to the client’s Scandinavian heritage. The clients had also lived comfortably in narrow, shotgun-style homes, and that familiarity helped shape the straightforward plan.
The 1,000 square-foot (approximately 93-square-foot) cabin contains a kitchen, dining, and living area that opens upward to a second-floor reading nook and bedroom. A primary suite sits just off the main living area on the ground floor. Working within a modest budget for a custom home in a remote part of Michigan, the team focused on efficiency, flexibility, and resilience. Built-in storage, reconfigurable furniture, and durable finishes allow the house to shift easily between quieter stays and larger family visits during the summer season.
A slab-on-grade concrete floor supports that practical approach, giving the cabin a surface that is easy to maintain during heavy summer use and cool underfoot throughout the day. Corrugated metal siding continues the emphasis on durability, while also tying the house to the surrounding region. The team looked to nearby farmsteads, many of them marked by finely corrugated metal roofs, and translated that familiar material into the cabin’s exterior. Its galvanized finish changes subtly with the light and strengthens the building’s response to harsh Michigan winters.
Window placement is equally deliberate. Openings bring daylight into the interior while preserving privacy from neighboring homes. Inside, color and texture help organize the compact plan. Marine-grade plywood defines the vertical circulation and storage zones, giving those working parts of the house a clear material identity. A vivid green marks the entry and threads through the main floor, bringing order and visual continuity to the interior.
That color choice comes from the family’s farming history in the region: it matches the year and model of a cherished John Deere tractor. Smaller tactile elements, including custom towel bars, handrails, and coat hooks designed by the architect, add a sense of scale and use to the rooms. Within a modest footprint, Liten Hytte creates a place that feels generous in practice—a cabin shaped for return, for summer routines, and for family life by the lake.
Photography by Corey Gaffer Photography
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