Bræðrahús 1 + 2
These houses were commissioned by two brothers as a place for their families to rest during summer and on holidays.
Situated in a forest of low birch trees beneath stunning mountains, the twin houses all but melt into the landscape. The narrow approach to the cottages is a wooden walkway enclosed by the birch; the eye does not register the scope of the landscape until it reaches the houses, whose huge terraces offer vast vistas of the nearby river and valley surrounding it. The main spaces are orientated towards the south and are all connected with the terraces that represent the real cores of the houses. The buildings have also been designed as barriers to protect the terraces from the strong winds of the area.
The concrete exterior walls of the cottages are clad with light wooden boards that will gradually weather, each at their own pace, to a colour grade matching the seasonal hues of the birch. Grass grows on the rooves, out of a layer of earth from the excavated footprints of each cottage.
Untreated wooden planks, rusted black metal and fair-faced concrete define the rugged but intimate atmosphere of the interiors.
