Holiday homes

- Brooklyn, New York Dwell Magazine : July / August 2017

The petite prefab cabin only took eight days to assemble once arriving to Switzerland.

The entire property is less than 450 square feet, but feels much larger thanks to careful planning.

There’s the option to rent out the top floor, but it also makes a great place for family visiting from Europe to stay.

The home sits on the banks of Lake Leelanau, in the heart of farm country; nearby, you’ll find cherry and apple orchards and several vineyards. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer a mood-boosting indoor/outdoor connection, and Inception Shades integrate seamlessly with window frames so as not to detract from the view.

“Our approach [to designing a home] is first and foremost trying to see and understand the dynamic in the family, their needs, the atmospheres that we want to create, and how that can work in an integral way with the site and the elements,” says Sundberg.

Architect Johan Sundberg looked to Japanese architects like Kengo Kuma for inspiration for the design of a holiday home in southern Sweden. "We call it the Katsura typology, but that's probably sacrilegious," he says. The eaves of the gently sloped hipped roof extend generously in all directions, turning the deck into a covered retreat that’s part veranda, part engawa, the Japanese version of a porch.

Known as the Sleeve House, the 2,500-square-foot residence was designed to appear as a smaller volume sliding into a larger one.

Pale hardwood floors complement pared-back wall tones in mushroom and off-white.

The media room with its folding door open. “The goal was to open everything up and create a continuous visual connection throughout the apartment,” says Neufeld.

A rear deck equipped with Adirondack chairs flows seamlessly from the bedroom's bay windows.

Streamlined sections of metal-framed windows with triple glazing stylishly connect the brick and wooden volumes.

The young and busy family (the couple have twin teenage girls and a toddler) also runs their equine business from the property’s stables.

The 5,200-square-foot retreat is designed to look like a cluster of old barns upon first glance.

In the bedroom portion of the upstairs studio, a vintage Japanese indigo quilt from the Rose Bowl Swap Meet lies folded on the end of the George Nelson-designed bed, which is flanked by an Architectural Pottery floor lantern.