The Cabin on the Border is a prefabricated, off-grid micro-cabin designed by Istanbul-based studio SO? Architecture and Ideas, and completed in 2017. Sited in a rural area near the Turkish-Greek border, specifically in a village near Edirne, Turkey, the 18-square-meter cabin was conceived as a weekend retreat for an Istanbul-based family. The design is a response to the diverse local climate, which can range from warm, rainy afternoons to fierce, stormy nights. It is built of laminated wood and insulated with stone wool, making it adaptable to changing weather conditions. A key feature of the design is its ability to transform and open up to nature manually, using a simple pulley system. A drawbridge-style wall on one end of the cabin can be lowered to create a patio, while a large polycarbonate window pivots upwards to form a glazed canopy, blurring the line between indoors and outdoors. The interior features a minimalist, open-plan layout, with plywood-clad walls, a kitchenette, a seating area that doubles as a bed, and two elevated sleeping lofts. For utilities, the cabin relies on solar panels for electricity and a rainwater catchment system, enabling a fully self-sufficient, off-grid existence. The project was built to be transportable and was moved to its location on a flatbed lorry. Credits Architects: Sevince Bayrak and Oral Göktaş from SO? Photography: SO? Architecture