This cedar clad summer cottage is like nothing you've seen before. The summer cottage retreat has a dramatic scooped roofline located on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. The Swedish studio Tham & Videgård Arkitekter designed this unique small cottage plan. The amazing cottage has expansive views of the open sea and a nearby lighthouse with its large openings that connect the interior spaces with the three terraces. The small cottage home has an unusual shape that is as unique inside as it is out. Once inside the dramatic ceiling does feel like you are in a tent, and makes for evocative of summer living.
The tent-like room and the silhouette of this unique small house plan fit in nicely with its natural location and makes for a new way to look at summer cottage designs. The summer cottage is inspired by the older Swedish pavilion and gazebo architectural design with light buildings that are carefully placed in the landscape. There is a large space that includes a lounge, kitchen and dining area that is lined on three sides with windows that slide open to offer a seamless transition onto the terraces. The outdoor space looks directly out towards the sea, while an extended section of the house helps to form a screen that protects the south-facing terrace. The cabin building is made entirely from timber, except for a steel girder that helps to distribute loads above the main part of the cabin design.
The curving zinc-clad roof of the cabin building reaches a height of 20 feet at its apex and is supported by the curving glulam beams that meet at a beam that runs along the roof's ridge. Cedar is used for the facade panels of the cabin building and screens that run around the exterior of the unique home design. The surfaces are punctuated by the glazing, which provides privacy and shelter. Inside the house are polished concrete floors and ash wood that is used for all of the wall panels and carpentry that combines to create a pared-back and muted palette.
The wall of windows with ocean views combined with the height of the tent home design gives the illusion that you are in a large tent, making for the perfect summer living home design. The wood, concrete and glass used in this summer cottage home blend nicely with its natural seaside location for a cabin building that is full of light and open spaces that make for relaxed summer living in an ideal location. Using good wood in your new home build, renovation or furniture design is an important part of any environmentally and socially responsible design project. When choosing the timber, you will use for your cabin building or furniture design you will want to consider the social and the ecological impacts of its production.
Today you will find timber and timber products that are available from well-managed forests where the impacts of commercial growing and harvesting of timber are minimized, and their management is verified. There are several benefits to using wood as a cabin building material, for starters it captures and stores the carbon without the embodied energy of other building materials. Timber is aesthetically pleasing to look at and can add a certain degree of warmth and texture to a cabin building, a room or piece of furniture. Wood is a naturally insulating building material, which offers strength and flexibility (depending on the tree species) and it is fairly easy to recycle. A well-managed forest can also help to provide a habitat for animals and livelihoods for local communities.
