Summer House in Southern Finland

The summer house designed by ALA is located in a rugged archipelago landscape, on top of a tranquil hill. The villa aims to blend into the surrounding landscape. The varying daylight conditions of the archipelago and the surrounding nature are strongly present in all of its rooms. Most of the plot has been preserved as natural landscape. In addition, the terraces surrounding the building protect the sensitive nature from wear and tear.

Even if the building is large for a summer house, it is compact in shape. It consists of interlocking outdoor and indoor spaces that offer pleasant places for vacation, work, everyday life, and celebrations – from evening to morning, from early spring to late autumn. The interior of the villa is divided into compact rooms suitable for the needs of the owners and their guests. The heart of the building and its architecture is a small, sheltered atrium, around which the interior spaces and open terraces are arranged. The atrium defines the spaces as intimate, while also creating an uplifting atmosphere, especially at the entrance. The angled ceilings follow the room division as ruled surfaces bringing height and spatial variation to the interiors. The result is a strictly rectangular building with plenty of spatial variation and surfaces for sunlight to paint on.

The villa has a wooden frame. The wooden load-bearing pillars serve as the frame for the glass walls. On the façades, the pillars are outside the building envelope.