Approaching through the trees, the house reveals itself with its distinctive roofline. The enclosing and slightly unusual design prompts curious anticipation for what awaits inside. On the other side we have the opposite; here the volume opens up into a generously glazed façade. Inside, the slope of the terrain is reflected in the step down to the kitchen and living room, which look out onto the forest. A playful approach to level and direction is apparent in the ingenious positioning of the rooms around the brick-built core.
Moving through the house is a journey of discovery through a personal and richly rewarding sequence of rooms. The functions of the rooms overlap and the exciting sightlines, nooks and niches create a wonderfully enjoyable experience overall. A range of production methods have been combined to erect the building, selecting the right method for the right purpose. Prefabricated structural elements have been married with fine joinery. Built-in wooden furniture marks the transitions between the different functions. The materiality of the wood is accentuated by the brick core.
Left Façade 1:200
Villa Idun-Lee
Type of building Villa
Location Saltsjö-Boo, Stockholm
Builders Axel von Friesen & Marika Vaccino
Architect Per Nadén & Anton Kolbe in collaboration with Axel von Friesen & Marika Vaccino.
Building contractors Indecon; Andrei Smirnov
Year built 2015–16
A word from the architect Villa Idun Lee is a wooden house which is systematically erected using the 12M module. The façade consists mostly of prefabricated wall elements built with a wooden joist frame and adapted to the rooms in the house. The garden façade is more relaxed and is therefore built on site using glulam structures with large sections glazed on site. In the middle of the house is a brick-walled volume, which stabilizes the building. This clearly follows the logic of the brick wall with the dimensions of the stone as a module, creating an interplay between masonry and wooden materials. The wood interior fittings are based on the strict systematics of a wooden house, but have details that vary depending on where they are situated in the house and their function. Wooden furniture has also been designed and made specifically for the house.