Rolling Huts are minimally appointed mountain cabins mounted on wheels, designed by Seattle architects Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen.

Located at Mazama in Washington State, the six huts serve as guest accommodation for friends of architect Tom Kundig, who has his Delta Shelter weekend retreat in the valley nearby.

The cabins have wheels to get round local planning laws forbidding permanent structures.

Rolling Huts was one of three projects by ASKA Architects to win at the AIA Seattle Awards a couple of weeks ago.

The following text comes from ASKA's press release about the award:

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The Rolling Huts – Award of Merit

Responding to the owner’s need for a space to house visiting friends and family, the Rolling Huts aim to be several steps above camping, while remaining simple in their design. Set in a meadow and facing the mountains, each single-room hut is placed so that an inhabitant’s gaze is drawn out of the room and towards nature. Informed by the local planning department that cabins would not be approved for the site, the architect hit upon the idea of placing the structures on wheels – effectively making them RVs.

Tom Kundig was the lead architect for the Rolling Huts. Jerry Garcia was the project manager, and Kenny Wilson was a staff architect.

The Jury wrote of the Rolling Huts: “Wit, a playful approach to type, and a willingness to question local idiomatic practice set this project apart. While many regional projects respond to the natural environment with comfort and elegance, these cabins are raw, edgy, unafraid of the challenging aspects of nature. At the same time, the user cannot escape the fact that the buildings impose on the landscape, with their steel wheels and tentative siting. These simple structures engage the spiritual question of our place in the landscape.”

The huts form a companion piece to the client’s personal retreat – Delta Shelter, designed by Tom Kundig and itself a winner of three AIA Awards (the 2007 National Housing Committee Award, the 2007 Pacific Northwest Pacific Regional Design Honor Award, and a 2006 Seattle Merit Award). It was an Architectural Record Record House in 2006, and a Residential Architect Grand Award 2006.