Ridge House

Type of project: Direct commission
Location: A ridge of bare rock in the western outskirts of Stockholm
Type of building: Private villa
Size of building: 180 sqm

Is it possible to build a house on a site and still keep it? The question has arised in several of our previous projects. If one places a building on the most attractive spot of a property, that spot will naturally then cease to exist. The exposed rock on the top of this site was easy to fall in love with and to see as the exterior space where one would want to spend future sunny summer days once the house was built. Yet the municipal plan called for this to be the location of the building and severe blasting would additionally be needed in order to meet the regulations for enabling life also for disabled people. The other half of the site was made up by a steep slope with lush forest marked as protected area in the plan. A long bureaucratic journey ended in the approval of a building that sits right on the border of the ridge and the slope. The rocky ridge is embraced as entrance to the house and as prime exterior spaces in the sun. The slope has become a shaded and secluded world in and under the building as the building cantilevers out between the trees, without touching or interfering with them. An old sturdy oak demanded the building to divide up in to two separate bodies. The result is a fragile treehouse on a sturdy glulam frame that supports the volumes of the building as well as it´s generous terrasses and balconies. The vertical part of the frame blends in with the stems of the trees still standing in the slope. The program of the clients called for a house for family life but also for a house to be private in. Several different worlds exist side by side in this project. Different worlds that coexist without intruding on each other, offering an alternative place and space for every mood and situation.