Deck & Pool

We’ve gotten great feedback about the structure from the community. We stepped it down and set it back, so it became more interesting than aggressive,” Flavin further explains.

Using heat-treated pine and bricks, Wood Arkitektur + Design built a casual family retreat on a family compound in Hellerud, a borough of Oslo, Norway. Situated on a natural slope, the house is divided into split levels. The exterior is swathed in heat-treated pine that has aged to a soft gray, alongside charcoal bricks. The rotating, open-faced fireplace here is the Ergofocus model from French company Focus.

Approached from the driveway, the home is accessed along a stone path that turns into a series of wide, wooden steps. The home's angular roofline is a dramatic form against the natural backdrop, but the wood cladding connects it to the site.

Hood Cliff Retreat (Wittman Estes)

The two-story addition hosts the master suite and a living area downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs. It’s constructed of steel, concrete, and glass, to convey a “lightweight” quality that communes with the original mid-century architecture.

An outdoor lounge area is tucked into the juncture made where the new kitchen wing joins with the renovated Trip Russell house.

“Most homeowners would tear the whole thing down and start fresh,” says Brillhart. “But it made for a much more interesting project, preserving a little bit of Russell’s legacy and then adding two new wings on each side of the building.” An Ipe fence now lines the front of the property, and the two-story wing can be just glimpsed through the trees on the left.

View looking from the new deck along the central axis towards the new pool and existing living room (with new concrete deck). The new design built-up the sloping site around the pool so its surface could be raised to allow more of a connection between the existing indoor spaces and the water.

Teak surrounds a minimalist outdoor shower.

The Pool House seen at night.

Wood decking extends out to the yard.

Throughout the day, light animates the limestone walls to various effects. “As the sun rotates around and is more oblique to the texture of the stone, it casts these wonderful shadows on it,” says Raike. “And you just get a real appreciation for the texture of the stone and the richness of the colors in it.”

the house unfolds on one level around a central patio.

The linear swimming pool hovers above the hillside, disappearing into the tropical foliage.

Back into the forest, the Pool House is oriented for panoramic views of the valley floor.