This striking modern cabin harkens back to our ancestors' dwellings in several clever ways. Lars Petter Pettersen
This striking modern cabin harkens back to our ancestors' dwellings in several clever ways.
Built by Norse firm Atelier Oslo, it was built as one continuous indoor space, with walls curving seamlessly into the ceiling. Lars Petter Pettersen
Built by Norse firm Atelier Oslo, it was built as one continuous indoor space, with walls curving seamlessly into the ceiling.
At the center is a hearth. It orients the whole home experience around fire. Lars Petter Pettersen
At the center is a hearth. It orients the whole home experience around fire.
Two large windows give an unobscured look at the surrounding nature. Lars Petter Pettersen
Two large windows give an unobscured look at the surrounding nature.
The cabin's located in a woods about an hour's drive north of Oslo. Lars Petter Pettersen
The cabin's located in a woods about an hour's drive north of Oslo.
The cabin nods to an earlier time, when our dwellings were more closely in touch with the elements. Lars Petter Pettersen
The cabin nods to an earlier time, when our dwellings were more closely in touch with the elements.
The floor plan. Atelier Oslo
The floor plan.
Another look at the central hearth, and the multi-layered floor, which closely follows the topography below. Lars Petter Pettersen
Another look at the central hearth, and the multi-layered floor, which closely follows the topography below.
Today’s houses exist largely to insulate us from the natural world, but there was a time when our dwellings were closely tied to the elements. We settled on terrain that protected us from predators; we huddled around fires; we cleared caves. This clean modern cabin in Norway is hardly a hole in the side of a mountain, but it does harken back to some of those more primitive domestic concerns in clever ways. Call it caveman modern.
Designed by Norse firm Atelier Oslo, the house sits in the Krokskogen forests, about an hour drive northwest of Oslo. Seen from above, it has a rough Greek cross shape, its four wings jutting from a central point. Outside, this creates spaces shielded from the wind.
The interior is one continuous room, with a hearth situated at the center. Lars Petter Pettersen
The more interesting effect of the floor plan is felt inside: It’s one continuous room. The different functional areas are separated not by walls but instead by small changes in elevation; the floor follows the topography of the ground beneath.
The walls and ceiling also defy rectilinear orthodoxy. They all curve into one another, crafted from birch plywood as a single continuous surface. The living and dining rooms have large glass walls overlooking the lake below; the architects took care to hide the frames, contributing to the feeling that inhabitants are exposed directly to the world beyond.
It all adds up to something distinctly more cave-like than you get with a normal home, though it wouldn’t be out of place in Dwell. That primal feel is only enhanced by what’s found at the middle of the house: a hearth. Instead of being built into a wall, it sits in the floor, like a campfire.
You can imagine the experiential difference that one detail makes. No matter what you’re doing inside, you’re hanging out by the fireplace. Its location makes fire the centerpiece of the dwelling, the point around which activity revolves—just like it was millennia ago, in so many holes in the sides of mountains.
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