A team of students and researchers from Barcelona's Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia have designed and built a cabin for self-isolation, using wood harvested from within one kilometre of its site.
The project was developed as part of the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia's (IAAC) Master in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) programme, which promotes a hands-on approach to ecological architectural design.
The Voxel (an abbreviation of volumetric pixel) quarantine cabin is located close to the IAAC's Valldaura Labs campus in the Collserola natural park.
Above: the IAAC has built a cabin for self-isolation. Top image: it nestles in the Collserola natural park in Spain
The 12-square-metre structure was designed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic as a space where a single occupant can self-isolate for up to 14 days. The project team, led by course directors Daniel Ibáñez and Vicente Guallart, designed and built the Voxel during the MAEBB 2019-2020 master's degree. This meant working under Covid-19 restrictions throughout the project's duration.
The cabin is built with locally sourced wood
The cabin was built in just five months using timber harvested no further than one kilometre from the construction site. This "zero kilometre" approach prompted a thorough exploration of how to optimise locally available materials.
"The project researches the ecological transformation of wood as a structural, thermal, and constru...