The practice designed the cabins – known as poustinia, a Russian word meaning a small cabin set aside for silence and prayer – to enable the priests to offer accommodation with complete solitude to people coming to them for retreats.
The cabins are constructed from larch and Douglas fir and three of them cantilever out from the hillside while the fourth “floats” above a river.
As well as the RIBA European Award, the poustinia have won the practice the RIAI Regional Award 2005, OPUS Architecture & Construction Award 2005 and the Downes Medal AAI Awards 2006.
