Last Updated on January 31, 2018 by teamobn
Kemiö island Finland – Helin and Co Architects
Built: 2010
Floor Area: 130 m2 dwelling + 42 m2 decks
Site area: 1.3 hectares (3.21 acres)
Thanks to fan Suzanne Martin for introducing us to this lovely home. This part of the world is dotted with thousands of small, rocky islands. And while the winters are harsh, the summers are glorious!
Here are the architect’s notes:
A small remote island in the Gullkrona Archipelago offers a panorama of changing seasons in the Baltic: Late sunsets fill open skies and early sunrises dramatise rocky islands. In spring, constant birdsong greets the end of severe winter. Warm, calm midsummer days are filled with scents of pine and juniper. Autumn storms drive huge waves over the rocks to freeze gradually, generating abstract formations of drifting ice. Finally, all is covered with snow. The villa is built to experience all this and counteract periods of urban hard work.
The geometry of the building relates to the forms of the granite bedrock with its varied colours and glaciated grooves. Larch, which naturally weathers silver-grey, clads the exterior, while sedum changes from green to brown on the roof during the summer. Fanned laminated beams and columns form the structure. Inside, cladding is warm pine with paler ash flooring.
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