Villa Alba

Type of project: Direct commission
Location: Outskirts of Stockholm
Type of building: Private villa
Size of building:  300 sqm

 

Villa Alba is a situated on a lush southern slope in a high end suburb of western Stockholm. The area is an old summer house area now being upgraded for permanent living. The site had not previously been built on and we had the opportunity to start from scratch. Our aim was to keep as much as possible of the lush character and especially a dramatic section of barren rock in the middle became a focal point for the project. The clients, a young Swedish couple just returning from work in London got very involved in the process and the wife played an important role in the project management as well as the interior decoration. The building is actually several bodies held together by a black brick wall closing the property towards the  road in the north, to create privacy as well as a protected microclimate on the south side. This concept gave us a variety of outdoor and indoor spaces with different character and mood on a site that otherwise could have become enkelsidigt focused on the sea view in the south. The main volume of the building contains a bottom floor with social areas and an upper floor with private bedrooms and bath for the family. The second largest volume contains privacy for work and guests, which was an important part of the program. Besides these functions this section also has a bottom floor with sauna and utilities. A glassed passage connects these two parts. The passage´s northern glassed wall has white glassed offering a hint to the neighbors of the life taking place on the other side as a Javanese puppet show.

 

Villa Alba was portrayed in the Swedish TV show “Hustoppen” and made Wallpaper Magazine rank us as number 14 in ”reason to visit Sweden”. It has also been the setting for several TV- and comercial productions as well as numerous national and international publications.

Additional design team members: Ola Keijer, Detlev Henkel. This project was developed during our  ’Arkitektstudio WRB’ time period.
Contractor: Sven Wiklund
Photographer: Åke E:son Lindman