Petra Gipp Arkitektur have embedded a pale concrete structure in the lushness of a Swedish forest slope. The entire form is gathered around a nave made out of wood. Looking closer, a staircase carves its way through the wood and concrete volume and by doing so, ties the structure tighter together. This passage opens up into a inner space, where the wooden core forms a niche/bench. The ceiling releases from the wall to reveal a thin slice of sky. The Architect wanted to to inflict as little damage as possible on the site, conceptually as well as visually hence the foundation is laid in the back, which allows the structure to rise above the ground and leave a large part of the site untouched.
Here is a project whereby the clients pictured a dwelling for experience - an interplay of privacy and transparency. Petra Gipp Arkitektur have created 2 distinct volumes that hold of each others conditions. One of the volumes contains elemental cells for sleeping, which have a direct connection to the outside via a separate entrance. There is also a large bedroom with an adjacent terrace, and a bathroom, which is open to the sky. And the other, a generous living room and a kitchen, where the public aspects of dwelling take place. The kitchen presents a degree of simplicity and abstraction. In between the two volumes, an internal light well forms itself where light cuts down through a large lantern. This is to release and define a conceptual cut between the two parts of the house; the closed space that turns inwards, and the generously outward looking, open volume. The spacious living room blurs the boundary between inside and outside.
