Todd Saunders & Tommie Wilhelmsen : Summer House, Hardanger

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This week’s architecte de la semaine [we know the feature has been MIA for some time now, sorry] … the Norwegian firm Saunders Architecture. A Canadian by birth, Saunders moved to Norway in 1997 and set up his office – which consists of 5 architects from Canada, Germany, Portugal, France and the USA.

The work combines a Nordic design sensibility with environmental concerns. Each project is unique and inventive. Every project has a new process. This strategy derives from an ability to be inventive and to constantly question the purpose of our buildings. Depending upon the setting and the program, each building suggest a critique of urban planning, provides solutions to contemporary housing solutions, or creates sympathetic yet robust new forms for residential housing that are additions to the dramatic landscape in which they sit [from saunders.no].

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Here we have the Summer House, Hardanger – a collaboration between Todd Saunders & Tommie Wilhelmsen. A small summer home on a lake in Norway, the project was conceived entirely by the designers – as they were their own client. The simple structure is lifted off the ground and set on a plinth that also serves as an elongated deck. The house’s form is derived from the bending / curving of a single plane – shaped by curving the floor vertically in the rear of the house to create the back wall, then pushing back outwards towards the water to form the roof. As if out of respect for the land, the deck was even built around the existing trees, giving the house a feeling of being in harmony with its natural surroundings.

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A self-initiated and self-financed project. The main dilemma for emerging architects is finding clients willing to take a chance with young, enthusiastic architects that have limited experience? When we first started our firm, instead of looking for clients we went looking for plots, to build an experimental structure. Doing this, we could pursue our architectural vision in line with our convictions: uncompromising, original and respect for the landscape [from saunders.no].

They even constructed the building themselves, enlisting the aid of two local carpenters.

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www.saunders.no
www.tommie-wilhelmsen.no

More from Saunders Architecture tomorrow, my ninjas…

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  1. Saunders Architecture : Summer Houses 2, Toronto
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Posted: March 6th, 2007
at 3:07pm by orangemenace


Categories: architecte de la semaine, architecture, featured ninjas, green arch, housing

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