Classic Husarö House Stands On An Elevated Plateau Overlooking The Sea

Tham & Videgård Arkitekter has built a living space with soaring ceilings and bedrooms with one large skylight overhead behind the black steel façade of this property on the Stockholm archipelago.

The setting is the Stockholm archipelago's outskirts. The woodland area has an unspoiled feel thanks to the tall trees. The home is situated in a clearing at a high point in the terrain, on a plateau overlooking the sea to the north. The property has been in the family for a long time, with a few of tiny additional structures, a boathouse and a guesthouse used for vacation stays. With the addition of a new generation, the family's demand for a larger house with more room rose.

The light conditions, the sea view, and the level and smooth bedrock were some of the characteristics that served as the foundation for the building. The design was also motivated by the very modest budget, which resulted in the notion of using tectonic reasoning to support a certain spatial arrangement.

The home, a two-story pitched roof structure, is split into an open social space on the first floor and a more private upper level with bedrooms and a playroom. A freestanding box including the kitchen, bathroom, and stair arranges the ground floor into a series of interconnected areas inside the square form.

Large sliding windows provide views in all directions and enable natural light to flood the room. A skylight that runs along the ridge of the roof on the top level emphasizes the verticality of space and slightly improves the sensation of solitude.

The façade is totally coated in folded black sheet metal of varying widths that combine the window placement. On the naturally flat portion of the bedrock, three transparent sliding doors with hard wood frames allow entry and direct access to the external spaces.

The whole structure and finishing are composed of wood. The open floor concept is made feasible by the use of glulam hardwood beams. Plywood sheets have been twisted between these beams to construct a sequence of vaults that lend direction to the interior spaces.

Photographs by Åke E:son Lindman.