Villa Lima

On what is considered a typical summer cottage site in Höllviken, a seaside resort south of Malmö, the client, a young couple, chose to build a year-round house that was unapologetically modern while at the same time accommodating a flexible family lifestyle. The most economically feasible solution was in this case what is known as a ”1.5-storey house” – possibly the most common type of house in southern Sweden. This would have the additional benefit of allowing for the preservation of a number of the site’s trees, as well as much of its natural vegetation.

In terms of design, this type of housing constitutes a challenge. A traditional pitched roof needs to be combined with a more austere formal expression – this is particularly problematic at the eaves and at the edges where the roof projects beyond the walls. Generous glazing combined with spare skylights demanded in this case a steel-reinforced timber frame.

The floor plan diverges from the traditional ground floor of the 1.5-storey-house, opening up the building across both corners and through to the upper storey. Lines of sight penetrate the house, the windows creating frames for the surrounding nature. One of the overall design objectives was to establish a ’prismatic’ formal expression; an interplay between volumes that remain platonic without unnecessary scale-reducing elements or details.

The façade is covered in smooth pine panels in a variety of widths and coated in a dark grey matte paint. Glazing systems throughout the building are from Schüco.

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Location: Limavägen 13, Höllviken

Construction: 2008

Chief Architect: Johan Sundberg

Structural Engineer: Istvan Szlavy, Tyréns

Client: The Håkansson Family

Building Contractor: Lars Benjaminsson

Photography: Kasper Dudzik (www.kasper.se)