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Ark-Shelter and ARCHEKTA compress a weekend house into 20 m², then give it room with fold-down terraces and an off-grid setup designed for year-round use.
Cabin Devín sits above Devín Castle at the edge of the Zlatý Roh vineyards in Devín, on the western edge of Bratislava, Slovakia. The view runs across the vines toward the Austrian Alps. Ark-Shelter developed the project with ARCHEKTA; the authors are Martin Mikovčák and Viktor Mikovčák. The brief was a fully functional weekend dwelling inside a 20-square-meter footprint, with energy independence sized for local winters. The cabin keeps a compact silhouette—a dark roof folded down over a timber body—yet it opens with a very practical logic. Two sides hinge down into terraces; once the decks are lowered, the sliding glass walls behind them can be pulled aside, so the interior concrete floor meets the outdoor boards without a step. A shading screen is integrated for the full-height front glazing.
Inside, the plan runs in a simple sequence: living area first, then a compact kitchenette, then a bathroom with a shower. The palette stays direct—cast concrete underfoot, pale wood panels for the interior cladding and built-ins, cement-finished kitchen surfaces—plus a black wood-burning stove set against the cabinetry. A concrete sink is placed directly in a window frame, turning the morning routine outward toward the trees.
The sleeping loft is handled with the same economy. There’s no fixed staircase; a retractable ladder is hidden in the cabinetry and only comes out when it’s time to go up. A pendant lamp drops down on a cable during the day; lift it and the sleeping area above is revealed. Up top, the roof closes in and a single skylight stays open to the night sky. The off-grid system combines photovoltaic panels with battery storage and a gas backup, with appliances switching to gas when the battery falls below a set threshold. Water storage and wastewater tanks sit in the raised floor, and ventilation is controlled through shading, heat recovery, and CO₂/humidity sensors to keep the interior stable in summer and winter.
