Not very far from Stockholm, close to the summer town of Norrtälje, situated among innumerable traditional Swedish summer cottages and pine trees, lay three small deep brown houses of different sizes. Built on a common deck acting as a massive plinth, rising out of the moss clad grey granite, these three small buildings placed close together make up a summer hideout, the deck flowing in-between them acting as an inhabitable fourth room.
The façade is made from deep-brown phenol coated plywood, normally used for casting concrete. Is is affixed with special screws used for fastening metal roofs, giving the house a certain prominent metallic harshness. The doors are treated in the same way, reusing the dark-brown metal sheeting from the roof, albeit orienting the sheets vertically.
In contrast to the hard exterior, the interior is light, being made almost completely out of white-waxed birch plywood. The velvet texture of the veneer attracts the light let in through the cut-outs in the walls. Utmost care has been taken to the interior, making everything from one single material and aligning all joints giving the impression of a piece of furniture.
Location: Norrtälje, Sweden
Status: Completed
Gross Internal Area: 60 sqm
Materials: Plywood, Sheet metal & Larch
Collaboration: Tove Fogelström
Images: Kolman Boye Architects