Dutch designer Caspar Schols got the idea for the ANNA Stay cottage after creating a garden shelter for his mother. However, it’s not your typical cabin because it features a foldable wooden frame that exposes it to the outdoors. The innovative layout enables the resident to coexist with nature rather than shut it out.
The ANNA Stay 2.0, designed by the project’s original developer Caspar Schols, has now been released. It maintains the original avant-garde aesthetic but has some essential improvements, such as a submerged bathroom and a bed that can be folded away.
The user of the ANNA Stay 2.0 can physically move its wooden beams apart to embrace the great outdoors. It can also slide open while remaining weatherproof thanks to glass walls and a roof, or it can offer a transparent enclosure to one side, much like a conservatory.
Designer Caspar Schols states, “In wintertime, the insulated wooden shell of ANNA keeps the warmth inside like a thick winter coat. In spring or autumn [fall], the glass keeps the rain outside, and welcomes sun inside to warm up the space. If it becomes too warm, guests can either slide and close the wooden layer to keep the coolness inside, or slide the glass layer open to allow a cool breeze to enter.”
It can grow as long as 13 m (42 ft), according to how it is configured. An expansive open area that may be used for entertaining guests or for working out takes up a substantial portion of the internal floor space. The downstairs bed is stored under the floor, and can be raised when it’s time to get some shut-eye. A ladder-accessible bedroom in the mezzanine of the ANNA Stay 2.0 is designed to resemble a tiny cottage.
Additionally, located beneath the floor, the bath has a hatch for accessibility. Other amenities include a kitchen area, a traditional washroom with a shower, basin, and toilet, as well as a wood-burning fireplace for heat.
A combination of aluminum, birch plywood, engineered wood, and other materials, together with a lot of glazing, go into the construction of the ANNA Stay 2.0. In addition to having locks and a revolutionary inbuilt braking mechanism that was influenced by Dutch bicycles, the walls are open and shut manually on rails. Leakage and drafting are the obvious problems. However, the designer claimed that these have been addressed.
ANNA has been developed to allow for the local production of 80% of its original pieces in the future using a digital file on CNC machines and 3D printers anywhere in the globe, ensuring a low transit footprint.
To guarantee that ANNA consistently opens perfectly and continues to be water-tight and wind-tight, 26 specially designed extrusion profiles were created using aluminum and rubber extrusion processes. Unique aluminum frames with a built-in wind labyrinth are the elements that stand out as the most novel.
The ANNA Stay 2.0 functions from a grid-based connection as standard. However, off-grid options are now available in the Netherlands. We don’t yet know how much it will cost, but that information should become available soon.
Source: ANNA Stay
