This wooden summer house raised off the forest floor on three concrete beams was designed by architect Johan Sundberg for a patch of woodland by the Swedish coastline (+ slideshow).
Swedish studio Johan Sundberg Arkitektur planned the summertime retreat for a couple with two children in Beddingestrand, on Sweden's southern coast.
Named Sommarhus Akenine, the cabin consists of a single timber and glass volume, perched on an embankment between sandy dunes and woodland.
Three concrete beams are used to level the site and raise the wooden structure just above ground level. The beams protrude from either end of the long volume, but are not visible from its two long sides, offering some protection from the risk of rising tides.
"The terrace floor appears to hover slightly above the ground," Johan Sundberg told Dezeen.
"I wanted the house to sit lightly on the ground, to feel elevated and transparent to the visitor arriving from the north."
The single-storey building is faced in smooth-planed Siberian larch and sits in the centre of a large roughly hewn timber platform that creates a wrap-around terrace.
Larch is the predominant material both inside and outside, and is used in a variety of treatments that help to subtly define decking from interior floor and cladding from roof.
"Using various types and treatments of wood is a way for the design to stay focused, simple and meaningful. In a summer house a certain amount of reduction might be soothing to the mind," said Sundberg. "It is also very much in our Scandinavian architectural DNA."
The flat roof overhangs the terrace to create shelter from the elements. Small spotlights are set into the overhang to light the area after dark.
At either end of the terrace, wooden walls with large rectangular apertures provide additional weather screens, but also frame views of the surroundings.
Wide timber steps at the north side of the property bridge the gap between ground level and terrace.
Inside, two pairs of bedrooms sit at either end of the cabin with an open-plan living and dining area sandwiched in the middle. Windows afford views of the Baltic Sea to the south, and woodland views to the north.
"Its timber and glass frame lends it a distinctive form that at once melds with and sets it apart from the surrounding landscape," said the architect. "From inside, there are breathtaking views of the surrounding expanses of sea and forest."
The pale timber floors and white walls used throughout the interior are contrasted by a brightly coloured, diamond-patterned wall and a black wood-burning stove in the living space.
Photography is by Peo Olsson.
Project credits:
Architect in charge: Johan Sundberg
Project architects: Daniel Gerse, Max Germundsson
Structural engineer: Anders Sandgren, Ramböll
Construction: SAWI Byggnads AB in Trelleborg, Bengt Hansson
Interior carpenters: Malmö Kök & inredning, Andreas
