Need a little “me time” after the holidays? From Sri Lanka to Switzerland, a new book by Taschen offers a look inside some of the greats.

Seven billion, and counting. That’s how many of us there are on this long-suffering planet, and it’s beginning to feel a little bit cramped. And with the rise of various small shiny objects with irritating ringtones, there’s now a burgeoning portfolio of ways for people to interfere with your life. Like the friend request. Or the unsolicited “@” reply. Or – the absolute worst – the unapproved photo tag. Trying to get some time out is almost futile: when someone elbows you in the Cronut queue you can walk away, but you’ll still be in Tinder range.

So, how to escape? In Mr Philip Jodidio’s new book Cabins, out this month from Taschen, he offers a solution to the problem, via 61 examples of the world’s most cleverly conceived and impressively remote cabin designs – all placed to offer maximum communion with nature and minimum exposure to other people. As Mr Jodidio reveals in his extensive introduction, the need to get away is actually nothing new, though we might like to think we invented it. In fact illustrious figures from Mr Henry David Thoreau (of Walden fame) and father of modernism Le Corbusier to the architect of London’s Shard, Mr Renzo Piano, are among those who have flirted with the minimalistic lifestyle of the cabin. And now you can, too – these highlights from Mr Jodidio’s book (accompanied by our new and 100% foolproof guide to building your own cabin) should provide ample creative impetus for those looking to follow suit.

Cabin 4:12, Ingarö, Sweden Design: Imanna

Though there’s many things to like about this 12sqm cabin on Ingarö, the 16th largest of Sweden’s many idyllic islands, chief among its attractions is the shiny black glass façade which, by reflecting the surrounding foliage, functions as a veritable cloak of invisibility for the whole building. Add to this a multifunctional space that makes the most of its miniscule dimensions and there you have it: the perfect hideout.

Clavo Lain Renovation, Lain, Switzerland Design: Hans-Jörg Ruch

This awe-inspiring barn conversion in the mountainous Vaz/ Obervaz region of Switzerland not only features a sehr authentisch and utterly yodel-worthy stacked log exterior, it also incorporates a cunning light-trap, which throws a graphic slice of light across the walls inside. The overall effect is Heidi-goes-to-MoMA, marrying the great outdoors with calming, modern minimalism.

Diane Middlebrook Studios, Woodside, California, US Design: CCS Architecture

The bad news: these cabins are available on an application-only basis. To stay in one, you must submit artwork (in the form of writing, fine art, music, dance or “media art”) and a panel from the Djerassi Resident Artists Program (the organisation behind this micro development in California) must like it. The good news: if you make the grade for a residency (and competition is stiff), you will be able to spend a month in one of these spaces, which have been specifically designed to get the creative juices flowing, peering out as they do over the Santa Cruz mountains with their well-placed desks and Hans Wegner chairs. No distractions – or excuses – here to stop you from penning the next The Catcher in the Rye.

Estate Bungalow, Mathugama, Sri Lanka Design: Narein Perera

Granted, floating above a rubber plantation in Sri Lanka is not necessarily on everyone’s bucket list. But this cabin might change that – its ingenious raised structure of steel, timber and bamboo, modelled on local farmers’ watch huts, provides a truly unique vantage point on the lush valley below, part of which is cultivated but part of which is jungle. File under “I like it, but how does it stand up?”

Leaprus 3912, Mount Elbrus, Caucasus Design: Leapfactory

Though personal space in this cabin-y hotel complex is not entirely in abundance, if there is anyone in this world you can bear to cosy up to in one of its futuristic, dorm-like sleeping pods, there’s few more spectacular places to do so. And all the better if you are cooking up some truly vile, Bond-villain worthy scheme – there’s something about the space-age design and snow-covered environment that screams Ernst Starvo Blofeld.

Monk’s Cabin, Pyeongchang, South Korea Design: ANM

In English “bang” is not a particularly restful word. In Korean, though, it can translate as “room”, particularly a sort found in traditional architecture. It is this archetype that has been reworked by Seoul’s ANM architects to create this wonderfully peaceful cabin in Pyeongchang, designed as a contemplative space for a Buddhist monk. To help with the process of becoming one with the universe, it opens up to become one with its surroundings, with doors that slide open wide on its picturesque paved entrance path, and large feature windows framing the forest on every side.

Mountain Cabin, Laterns, Austria Design: Marte.Marte

Not so much a cabin as a very pleasing cuboid, placed monumentally on the side of a mountain in Laterns, Austria, this building is very much geared towards the man that collects Vitsœ furniture, listens to Mr Philip Glass and dresses entirely in Jil Sander. Almost everything, from the sink to the cooker, is some form of utilitarian rectangle, which contrasts nicely with the rather more disordered beauty of the surrounding, craggy mountains. Not a place to leave the toilet seat up.

Serious about staking a few square metres of solitary bliss? Then it’s time to build your own cabin. Of course there are a few, somewhat daunting prerequisites. For one thing, you need a plot of land – if it’s to be a cabin rather than a shed this must be somewhere remote and a little off the beaten track. Lakes, trees and inclines are most desirable as surroundings. You will also probably need to find a contractor to help you build the thing; that is, unless you want your refuge to have sloping floors, windows that don’t fit and a weird chimney that inexplicably appears in the bathroom when you’re half done. Luckily, the design process can be simplified by using and/ or adapting one of the many smart prefab designs currently available across the globe. Here are four of our favourite cabin kits.

_dwelle  _Project cost: from £75,000

Manchester, UK-based practice dwelle scooped a series of local awards this year for its pleasingly house-shaped and impeccably sustainable prefabricated housing designs, which it calls “dwelle.ings”. The most cabin-like is the Little dwelle.ing at just 18sqm, which can be expanded to add a second bedroom and fully customised with a choice of various claddings and canopies. If you’re willing to expand upon the existing, reasonable costs, further improvements can be added to the basic design to improve its heat conservation and make it completely carbon neutral. Or you could forget about global warming and buy yourself a matching hot tub.

_Addaroom _ _Project cost: modules from €21,000 _ The Scandinavians love cabins, of course – it was here and in the far reaches of Europe where the earliest traditional log cabins were built. Since then, they have somewhat perfected the art of cabin building, something that’s plain to see in the designs of Denmark’s Addaroom. This company’s basic, Swedish- and Danish-made cabin model is the One+, a building it describes as “A little house with great potential”. It’s no lie – via a cunning modular design, several One+ elements can be added together to create bigger properties, allowing owners to gradually expand their miniature dream palaces as and when they see fit. There’s just one catch – the prefabricated pieces have to be driven over from Denmark, and this is costed per kilometre. Price including delivery is therefore – shudder – upon application.

_Form & Forest _ _Project cost: on application _

Architecture practice Form & Forest is based in Canada, but its seasoned expertise in cabin design can, thankfully, be accessed from anywhere in the world. This is because, rather than shipping out cumbersome cabin parts, it simply sells its stylish designs, adapting them to suit individual customers for an additional cost. It’s an idea that is to cabin architecture what Wordpress is to blogs – that is, it circumvents a lot of fuss and bother by allowing people to adapt templates to suit them. And the results are particularly pleasing to the eye – MR PORTER’s favourite is the Pioneer, with its sloped roof and atrium-like windowed living space. Anyone who wants to try before they buy can rent out a completed example, standing next to the Blaeberry River near Golden British Columbia.

_Tetra Shed _ Project cost: from £10,500

Tetra Shed, by UK practice Innovation Imperative, has been the cause of much buzz in the architectural press since the modular design concept debuted in 2011. And now it’s available to buy. Working with the basic template – a Kubrickian polygonal pod – users can pick custom cladding, windows and define the use of the space (from office to bedroom to wet room) on the Tetra Shed website. The cabins themselves, which can be combined to form bigger dwellings, are shipped as flat-pack pieces, and can be easily assembled by mere mortals without any extra assistance.

_Cabins _by Philip Jodidio (Tashen) is available on MR PORTER