Dominic Bradbury, in his latest book, looks at houses in Scandinavia, though most are in Norway or Sweden. The four chapters: Rural cabins; Coastal retreats; Townhouses; Country homes, considers forty-three houses (with over four hundred photos) and they all share a common theme of warmth. In these weather-beaten countries heating is important and in many of the photos there is a lit fire, an obvious focal point for the inhabitants. Another common element is the use of local products, basically wood, in the construction, this fits in beautifully with a desire for sustainability apparent in many of these homes.
Each house starts with a few hundred words introduction followed by photos of the exterior and interior. As one would expect from Scandinavians the interiors reveal a simplicity of style in the open plan living and with the absence of fitted carpets does this mean that under floor heating is the norm? Costal retreats reveals houses with extensive window areas to enjoy the outlook. One featured home, in Notteroy, Norway, breaks with the tradition of wood construction and uses sea-water resistant aluminium which, externally, has a mirror effect with the immediate environment.
I thought the Rural cabins chapter had the most interesting buildings. (Perhaps cabins is not strictly accurate as some of the twelve featured could be classed as small, single story houses.) The architects have offered their clients pragmatic solutions to the reduced living space. In the case of a cabin in Etne, Norway this is one room with a roof that gently slopes into the ground. It looks remarkably cosy but is completely covered in snow during the long winter. The Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Rovaniemi, Finland has thirty-two cabins on stilts and a photo on page sixty-nine shows a bed facing a floor to ceiling window looking out to a snowy woods.
One slight annoyance with the book is that all the floor plans are in the back pages, mostly they fill about half a page and could easily have been accommodated with each relevant house and avoided a lot of page flipping.
The book is an excellent look at living solutions in a fairly hostile environment yet the various architects have created houses that complement the landscape and satisfy the owners.
UK
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