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Project Details:

Location: Grimstad, Norway

Architect: Kolman Boye Architects / @kolmanboye

Footprint: 2,152 square feet

Builder: Byggmester Modalen

Engineer: Limträteknik

Cabinetry Design: Kitchen and Room

Photographer: Johan Dehlin / @johan_dehlin

From the Architect: “The production and assembly of the timber elements for this cabin drew on the collective knowledge of the involved carpenters, joiners, and suppliers. In the production, each of the more than 12,000 individual oak off-cuts from Dinesen’s floor production were pre-cut to size with minimal waste, pre-drilled, and pre-treated with tar at our carpentry before being transported to the site. In the assembly of the facade on site, each individual oak element required precise handling and more than 20,000 stainless steel screws for fastening—reinforcing the robust, assembled, and layered character of the cladding.

“The resulting building negotiates a landscape of rocks, lichen, ferns, conifers, and deciduous trees on a bluff, facing the sea of Skagerrak on the southeastern coast of Norway. In order to avoid reshaping the terrain, the building is meticulously adapted to the northeast sloping ground, forming three volumes that are situated on five different levels. Outside, the three volumes create two distinct spaces separated by an openable wind-barrier: a courtyard toward the forest that is protected from the wind and an open deck towards the sea that holds views through an existing pruned 'window-band' in the conifers.

“Inside, each space has a distinct volume and ceiling height with the central hallway giving clear views through the whole house and the windows, stretching the full length of the facade toward the sea, bringing unity and coherence to the different levels. Where the exterior oak cladding will turn silvery-gray over time, and blend in with the slate and granite landscape, the interior Douglas cladding is kept in a slightly warmer, whitish hue, balanced by the neutral screed floors.”