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Monocoque Cabin - Architect-Designed Airbnb Cabin, Shropshire Union Canal

Birmingham

Project Details

£250,000 to £499,999

Brownfield site, Sited in AONB, Listed Building - Grade II*, New Build, Within a Conservation Area, Listed Building - Grade II, Sited in Greenbelt land, Para 79 house

Practice

Markos Design Workshop

Office 1, Izabella House , 24-26 Regent Place , Birmingham , West Midlands , B1 3NJ , United Kingdom

The Monocoque Cabin is a self-initiated project in which I was both architect and client: a holiday cabin in woodland beside the Shropshire Union Canal near Market Drayton, now operating as a dog-friendly holiday let. It was selected from over 250,000 entries as a 2023 Airbnb OMG! Grant winner. The shell is a laminated plywood monocoque, inspired by the WWII de Havilland Mosquito, where the skin and the structure are the same thing. It was manufactured off-site in three sections and assembled on the plot in a matter of days rather than months. Reclaimed timber decking, recycled insulation, cedar shingles, oak featherboards and a zinc roof, chosen for how they age. The cabin sits on Peatswood Farm as part of the farm's move into rural tourism, a collaboration between the practice and the farm. Engineer: Price Myers. Fabricator: BlokBuild Ltd.