The A-Frame. retreat in Hocking Hills
On 34 acres in Ohio’s Hocking Hills region near Rockbridge, the A‑Frame is organised around a simple promise: a group getaway that feels immersed in the forest rather than parked beside it. That immersion begins with the way the building is encountered. When tall trunks and a dense canopy dominate the approach, the cabin’s main gesture is to invite the same vertical attention upward, then carry it inside through an exaggerated volume and expansive glazing. With a run of 20 skylights drawing daylight down the length of the roof, the interior reads as bright even when the woods outside are heavy with shade.
A forest stay designed for lingering
The stay is calibrated for shared use without sacrificing comfort. At around 140 square metres (1,500 sq. ft.), it accommodates up to 10 guests across three bedrooms and a loft, supported by two bathrooms and a full kitchen as the social engine. The hearth becomes the indoor focal point, while the outdoor program is deliberately generous: a hot tub, fire-pit area and outdoor lounge with a propane fireplace extend evenings beyond the envelope, and a deck makes the transition between indoors and the clearing feel continuous rather than abrupt.
Nature here is not merely a view but an itinerary. The property is described in terms of cliffs, caves, seasonal waterfalls and an overlook, with private trails mapped in varying lengths and characters—including routes that begin at the A‑Frame’s own trailhead—while remaining close to well-known destinations such as Hocking Hills State Park, Rock House and Cantwell Cliffs.
An A‑Frame that blends through contrast
The cabin’s ease in dense woodland can be reasoned from its most conspicuous material decisions. A steep, dark metal roof reads as a single, enclosing cloak; because the surface is low-reflective and close in tone to tree shadow, its mass visually recedes among trunks rather than competing with them. At the gable, that darkness is deliberately interrupted by warm timber lining, and the contrast works because it echoes the site’s own palette: tree bark, amber leaf litter, and sun-warmed wood.
The front elevation also shows how geometry is used to make a large opening feel more at home in the trees. Instead of one uninterrupted sheet of glass, the façade is broken into crisp triangular panes. That subdivision matters because it fractures reflections into smaller fields of sky and branches, keeping the forest legible on the surface of the building and reinforcing the A‑Frame’s structural logic. The deck and outdoor rooms step with the slope, and where parts of the cabin lift on posts, the ground plane remains largely intact, suggesting a preference for occupying rugged terrain without fully flattening it.
Inside, the spatial strategy is equally clear. Timber brings warmth at touchpoints and soffits, while white internal wall lining amplifies volume—an important move in an A‑Frame, where sloping sides can otherwise compress the edges of rooms and lofts. Renee Byler of
Authorship is central to the project’s appeal: the design and build are the brainchild of hosts Bryant and Amy Gingerich, with architectural input from Meredith Higgins. For guests who want to translate the idea elsewhere, the Gingeriches also offer the A‑Frame plans for purchase through their website.
