Poznań Portable Cabin

This simple two-container cabin on the banks of Poland’s Warta River brilliantly teaches that elegance doesn’t have to be complicated. It beautifully marries understate design with pristine location to create something even better than what you would think it might be.

The cabin sits on the property of a community garden near Szelągowski Park, where two 40-foot containers were already used for storage. Vertically stacking two additional containers on top of these garden storage boxes created the cabin, and horizontally offsetting them allowed for the creation of a patio. And since the cabin is slightly elevated, its views of the river from inside and off the patio are that much better!

While you may think you’d have to drive for hours into the countryside to find such an idyllic cabin, quite the opposite is true. The Poznań Portable Cabin is less than 3 miles from the city center, but it feels much more remote because it’s surrounded by parkland.

And let’s talk about that name, Portable Cabin. The designers of the cabin intended to eventually move it to a more remote, forested location. We’ll see if that ever happens, but for now, we love its current location. Poznań is an incredible city for a container home, with universities, medieval history, and bountiful culture from museums to parks.

The house itself is worthy of bragging about too. It starts with the two containers we just mentioned, joined together at their long edges. The ends of each container were cut open, adding a floor-to-ceiling window in one and a slide glass door in the other. This enveloped the interior in light as well as making the adjacent patio feel as if it’s part of the space.

From the patio, you step inside into the living room. Immediately, you’re surrounded by the warm tones of birch plywood that cover the walls and ceiling. As we’ve seen before, the plywood is separated with a slight relief edge in between each piece to give each piece a modern touch.

Wooden planks cover the floor, extending the aesthetic. The far end of the living room holds a linear kitchen, small but clad with metal cabinets that form a striking contrast with the wood-dominated interior.

The left side of the home is a hallway, stretching back to the main entrance on the rear. On one side of the hallway is the private bedroom and full bathroom, while the other has a long wardrobe against the wall.

Expansive windows fill the sides of both containers, both in the living area and the bedroom. However, the places where the two containers meet on the interior are completely covered by the floors and ceiling, creating the impression of one monolithic space.

On the outside, the containers’ dull green paint almost camouflages them within the greenery of the garden. Despite the metal construction, the containers seem like they belong there, integrated into the topography and landscaping of the site.

But behind those corrugated container walls is plenty of spray foam insulation to keep the occupants comfortable in any season. With such thoughtful design, it’s easy to imagine this place truly becoming a home despite the small interior space.