Two wall panels and two roofs

With a fairy tale location on the coast south of Aarhus, the architect’s primary assignment for this holiday home was to frame the view and create a connection between indoors and outdoors.

The holiday home is built entirely in black-painted wood and features a spartan architectural style. With its two unifying wall panels that stand in parallel to the plot, the home almost appears to point toward the coast. Between the wall panels is the entrance area and carport, with an annex room on each side. One then moves across the courtyard and into the main building. The wall panels provide shelter on the terrace outside the house.

Transparency plays a large role in the home’s dominant direction, so that from the courtyard, for example, one can see through the main house to the sea view on the other side. The two roofs point in a more vertical direction, suggesting from a distance that there are two houses separated by a courtyard. The shape of the roofs lends a wonderful sense of space to the buildings and an experience of being in one room.

Construction as ornamentation

The simple, sculptural design idiom is underscored by the consistent use of materials used both indoors and outdoors. In the main house, bathrooms and other enclosed functions have been gathered in a ‘box’ in the middle of the house. Overhead, the roof construction is visible to create the experience of a more dramatic space that contrasts with the panoramic view.

Black Troldtekt acoustic panels were selected as the ceiling material in both buildings, creating both visual and auditory calm. The wood construction in both the living area and the attic is not painted, but instead crafted in untreated wood with a warm glow that almost lights up the otherwise colourless room. In the bathrooms, the surfaces offer a light contrast with ceilings clad in Troldtekt acoustic panels in natural grey.