Labor Days

Cabins—heaven knows—have multiple functions, and not all of them involve dipping a toe or wetting a line. The Black family’s sweet retreat in western Wisconsin is, for instance, a site of honest labor. In fact, the Blacks have christened their 1,200-square-foot, red-sided, lofted getaway “Verksted”—workplace in Norwegian.

Set amid 100 acres of rolling countryside, pine stands, and gurgling streams, Verksted is a combination welding shop and potting studio, with just enough space for eating, sleeping, and bathing. Andrew Black, a Twin Cities technology executive, uses the venue to indulge his creative talents with a welding torch. Laurel, an artist and mother, throws pots on the rustic premises, while Sam and Grace, their teen-age kids, get down with their own manual arts projects. (Grace received welding tools for Christmas.) The cabin is blessedly telephone-free, and no cellular connection is available either. Far from the stress-inducing tasks of the city, the busy work at Verksted “makes me feel better,” Andrew avers. “It’s a terrific place to think.”

Laurel. Despite her pottery, cooking (today she’s readying a neighbor’s beans for a hearty stew), and practicing the bass part for the band she recently joined, she says that when at Verksted she is “overtaken by calm.”

The Basics Designed to be a workspace, Verksted is, architecturally speaking, simply a step above a pole barn. With a heated floor, insulation, and gabled loft, the Blacks’ shop and studio in rural Wisconsin is used year-round. The family may add a separate “living cabin” later.

Dale Mulfinger teaches architecture at the University of Minnesota and is a partner at Sala Architects in the Twin Cities. His next cabin book will be published by The Taunton Press in 2008.