Collection by Sarah Johnston
plant areas
Levenbetts designed the guesthouse as a porous block. Every side opens to the outdoors, allowing the landscape to continue through the building. “The idea was to create this total openness and informality and almost undomesticated domestic space,” says architect David Leven. The concrete is textured by its forms on the outside but smooth where it cuts into the building—“almost as though you sliced into it with a knife,” Leven adds.
Located on the ground level, the kitchen and main living space are open to the elements. Large sliding doors pocket into the wall cavity, providing a seamless connection to the coast. Skylights allow natural light to filter into the space while providing glimpses to the green roof above. A horizontal window provides a snapshot to the rugged, mountainous terrain. The linear kitchen leads along a circulation spine, which connects to the more private areas.
Morten Bo Jensen, the chief designer at Vipp—whose headquarters are located in Islands Brygge—and his partner, graphic designer Kristina May Olsen, bought a loft space in the former Viking pencil factory in 2011. They bought the loft from its previous owner, one of five investors who purchased the circa-1910 factory building, roughly a decade ago, in a very raw state.