This is an extension to a small vacation house with a monopitch roof. The existing building was a simple, closed-off box, so in contrast, the extension creates an open space by simply placing a wooden bookshelf as a structural element. The bookshelf is designed to support vertical loads through beams set at the same pitch as the original roof, while also resisting horizontal forces along both the X and Y axes. To create a continuous space with the surrounding forest, the bookshelf’s back panels are made of glass. Only the minimum number of back panels needed to satisfy the structural requirements for shear resistance in the longitudinal direction were installed. As a result, the space gently frames the forest, cutting out a natural extension of it from within.
