A Sod Roofed Cottage Nestled In The Sand Dunes On The Northern Coast Of Denmark

Location and Design of the Cottage

This beautiful small cottage home is located in the dunes on the Northern coast of Denmark. The small cottage home fits in perfectly with its landscape, the living roof making the small cottage environmentally friendly and a part of nature. The small cottage with its sod roof might make some people think that it is a historic home that has been in this location for years, but the fully glazed gable small cottage home gives it away as being a much younger and more modern tiny home. Sod has been used as a roofing building material for hundreds of years in Scandinavia. It remained the most common type of roof in rural areas until the late 1800s, when it was gradually replaced by tile and later by metal. In recent years there has been a revival in traditional building methods and building materials, so sod roof designs are making somewhat of a comeback. That coupled with the concept of green living roofs which as led to sod being used on newer home designs such as this small cottage home built in 1987.

Building Materials and Construction

While the building materials used to build most sod roofs are literally dirt cheap, it is a very labor intensive building method and therefore will cost more unless you do the work yourself. The dirt and grass on top of traditional home designs add some insulation, but the main purpose of the dirt roofs is to help hold down the layers of birch bark that provide the waterproofing. In newer home construction, the birch bark is usually replaced by asphalt felt and a dimpled plastic drainage layer. That is likely the building material used on this small cottage home judging by the metal drip edge visible below the sod layer. Like the homes before it, this small cottage home is recessed slightly into the ground and has short sidewalls to deflect the often extreme coastal winds over the roof.

Interior Layout and Efficiency

This type of tiny house building is very practical and also very energy efficient, but it also fits perfectly into its beautiful grassy landscape, which is what architectural design should try and achieve. Inside the lovely small cottage home, the wood-lined interior is cozy with a roughly 430 square feet floor plan. The short sidewalls of the cabin building mean that the only windows in the small cottage home are on the gable ends, but the living area's window wall ensures that there is plenty of light to fill the cabin building. Inside the cabin building, the bedroom and the bathroom are in the back corners of the design, with the bathroom accessed through the bedroom.

Benefits of the Green Living Roof

The green living roof has plenty of benefits, but one of the best things about this type of roof is that it looks so perfect in natural landscapes, just like the one where this small cottage home is built. Good architectural design works with its environment and how the home makes you feel overall, and this sod roofed small cottage home does this perfectly.