The Yellowstone River Lodge is a beautiful bed and breakfast located near the town of Billings, Montana. While the lodge itself is a larger home, tucked behind it are three small guest cabins designed by Josh Sayer, the son of lodge owners Jan and Dan Sayer. The small modern and stylish cabins were inspired by the simple agrarian structures found around the area near Billings and make their own statement in the Montana landscape.
The larger cabin contains a full bedroom and the two smaller cabins have a studio space. All of the cabins were built by Dan Sayer with help from a local contractor. They are just over 400 square feet each and include a covered deck, Jacuzzi tubs, kitchenettes, wood-burning stoves and air conditioning. They were completed for around $25,000 each, but Josh said that if a client were to have them built, they would cost closer to $40,000 to $50,000.
Josh and his wife, both graduates of Montana State’s architecture program, recently started their own design company, Response Design, and the cabins were one of their projects. Josh has long been interested in small homes, prefab architecture and sustainability and made sure to take the surrounding land into account when he designed the Yellowstone River Lodge cabins. The cabins sit up off the ground on piers since the area is prone to flooding. Each cabin is oriented to the south with overhangs over the windows to protect them the interior from the hot summer sun.
Photos by Response Design