Hee House | Ellsinger

 Villa Hee is a small vacation home with surprisingly large rooms. It is located in Hee, just south of Hamburgsund on the Swedish West Coast. The prevailing and at times harsh climate has greatly influenced the design and material choices. The plot is relatively large, flat, and situated on a naturally rich piece of land with pines, rocks, and meadow grass. The house is oriented in a straight north-south direction, closed off to neighbours and road to the north, while open towards the forest and fields to the south and east.

The clients are a young couple with two children. One part is a photographer, the other a writer, and both work within architecture and design. A very “educated” client, in other words, who has been willing to sometimes try more unconventional solutions. Everything is uniquely made for the house from panel and windows to kitchen and furnitures.

The house is only 7x7 meters but also 7 meters high. To fully capture the effect of the room height, we chose to move the roof loads into a horizontal timber frame of laminated wood to avoid the bracing and beams that would otherwise disrupt the view and experience. The steep roof is clad in untreated aluminium sheeting, and also the gables and the cantilevered canopy roof are clad in the same sinus sheet metal, which together provide good protection against rain and wind.

Fundamentally, the house consists of a large volume divided by a loft, which underneath accommodates the hallway, bathroom, and bedroom. The loft is supported by a room-width bookshelf, which also serves as a major room divider and railing for the loft. The bookshelf is large and serves as both kitchen storage and living storage. It even houses a fireplace.

The loft contains a children's lounge area, two sleeping bunks, a sofa bed, and a workspace. It can be screened off with a 4-meter-high curtain. The entire house accommodates eight full-length sleeping places to fit visiting family members.

Photography: Christopher Hunt