There are all kinds of creative and abstract ways to blend homes set in nature with their environments, but this one takes the idea of contextual additions to new and more literal levels.


Designed by Japanese architect Eiri Ota and Canadian architect Irene Gardpoit Chan of UUfie (via Dezeen), this clever cottage addition sports exterior mirrors that reflect the surroundings of the structure as one nears the building.

As a resident or guest approaches, mirrored walls and ceilings dominate their sight lines and a kind of expectation reversal occurs – instead of the building seeming ever more prominent in the field of vision it becomes increasingly invisible, contrasted by framed scenes of the interior.


The result is a kind of multiplication of scenery that emphasizes the secondary nature of the house in its landscape – a treehouse-inspired yet unusual approach to hiding buildings in plain site (in this case firmly from the ground). On the inside, meanwhile, a warm wood-lined interior awaits.