As most design fans know, Le Corbusier once declared that “a house is a machine for living in.” But the home that architect Pernilla Wåhlin Norén created for her family of seven (eight including their black Labrador, Lovis) in Borlänge, Sweden, is more like an instrument.

That’s how Pernilla describes it, at least. It’s finely tuned to the needs of her musical family: Her husband, Gustaf, is a songwriter, music teacher, and performer, and their kids Josef (15), Edith (13), Bror (11), and Salka (8) each play at least one instrument, while Moses (5) likes to sing. Pernilla wanted to design a home that could adapt over time as the pitch of her family, so to speak, changes. So she prioritized a simple, rational layout with flexible living spaces spread across two levels of an L-shaped structure.

The plywood interiors and polished cement floors are intentionally bare to allow a blank canvas for all kinds of activities, like Pernilla’s weaving or the family’s candle-making projects. The furniture, decor, and other impermanent fixtures—an array of musical instruments, a large wooden loom, and tools for whatever craft a given family member is working on at the moment—are constantly being rearranged. Shifting patterns move across them, cast by natural light that passes through tall windows that line the walls on the inner side of the building. Outside, these windows look like the sharps and flats on a silvery spruce keyboard running across the facades. But a piano wasn’t Pernilla’s inspiration for the window design—the surrounding forest was.

Pernilla has a strong connection to this part of central Sweden, known for its dense timberlands, wide rivers, and traditional handicrafts, like wood carving. It’s where Pernilla and her husband grew up and where she now works as an architect for the City of Borlänge after forging her career in Stockholm.

“When you’re inside, looking at the windows divided by thin walls is like seeing the sun through the tree trunks,” says Pernilla. The rigidity of the exterior is broken where the two wings meet by a pine shingle–clad section that adds an unexpected jolt to the design. The shingles pay homage to Pernilla’s love of wood and local craftsmanship and to the cladding of nearby Ornässtugan, a medieval guesthouse thought to be the scene of a dramatic escape by eventual Swedish king Gustav Vasa roughly 500 years ago.

Nearly all of the home’s windows face the same direction, training the focus from inside to a large garden that’s laid out much like traditional farmhouses in the area. The intention is to always beckon the residents out into nature. “I think of this home as kind of a frame for our lives, providing suggestions in the same way that I might put books on the shelf that I hope the children will read,” Pernilla says. “It’s their choice to follow those suggestions, but I try to remove any barriers.”

To further encourage outdoor activity, the rooms are modestly scaled—the most sizable being the living room at about 15-by-14 feet. “It’s only as large as it needs to be to fit all of us,” says Pernilla. In contrast, the mudroom at the entrance is substantial and full of storage so that all seven family members can dump their jackets, shoes, and other outerwear into tidy bins that hide mess and make coming and going as simple as possible.

“I want to see how the wood lives and changes over the years. That’s part of the experiment of this house.”
—Pernilla Wåhlin Norén, architect and resident

Upstairs, all of the children have their own identical, compact rooms with a built-in plywood bed, closet, storage, shelves, and fold-down desk in each. The rooms are lined up in order, from youngest to oldest. On the back wall of each bedroom, a high, south-facing window that nearly spans the width of the room affords treetop views and helps illuminate the enclosed spaces.

At the center of the house, Pernilla designed a prominent wooden staircase that’s a near-exact replica of the stairs her father—also an architect—built for the house she grew up in, with vertical bars added to harmonize with the vertical windows. “It’s the perfect play furniture,” Pernilla says. “You can build forts under it, sit and read on it, or just hang out there.” She enjoys watching her own children using the staircase in the same way she did in her youth, exactly as she intended.

It’s a fitting representation for all that Pernilla hoped to create: a practical and versatile home steeped in family tradition, local materials, and a sense of musicality. For this family, it hits all the right notes.

Related Reading:

This Swedish A-Frame With a Flourish Excels in All Seasons

A Tiny Cabin in Rural Sweden Pops With Red Pinewood

Project Credits:

Architecture: Pernilla Wåhlin Norén / @pernillawnoren

Builder/General Contractor: John Kånåhols, Byggab

Structural Engineer: Patrik Jakobsson

Cabinetry: Nils Vinteus

Metalwork: Per Ulvenvall

Ceramic Lighting: Lisa Wolgast

Photography: James Silverman / @jamessilvermanphoto

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A Swedish Architect Crafts a Flexible Home Fine-Tuned for Her Musical Family