Surrounded by forest, a cluster of cube-like, galvanized steel and glass buildings stand on the shore of a Swedish lake.

“Claesson Koivisto Rune stunned us at their first presentation, what they proposed was something we had never expected. That push made us commit to the project, without compromises.” Patrik Johäll, Getaway House owner

The rocky and steeply-sloping site is reached from above, from a one lane country road cut into a forested hill slope. The concept can be likened to rock crystals breaking out from the hill between the trees, barely touching the ground. Only two materials are dominant: glass and galvanized steel. Chosen to meet the demand of being maintenance free, but adding also the quality of being pure and ‘honest’, as the zinc is left untreated to slowly oxidise and patinise.

The little ‘hamlet’ of four scattered cubical buildings – main house, twin-bedroom annex, sauna, carport – are parallel to each-other but at a 45-degree angle to the lake. Thus, making two sides, instead of one, facing the lake view and at the same time stopping direct reflection from the glass as seen from the lake.  The cubes are ‘cut’ at an ‘equator’ line, with all glass for the lower half and all galvanised for the upper half. In the case of the main house, the upper metal half is hiding a sunken roof terrace reached from a rear outdoor spiral staircase. This roof terrace offers a 50% addition to the total of flat ground to the plot, for outdoor living. When on the terrace, you find yourself literally ‘in the trees’.

The primary feature of the main house is inside: A central, ‘solid’ core cube, containing bathroom, kitchen and storage, is rotated in plan at a 45° angle to the house itself. The result of this is an open plan that still has four defined ‘rooms’ – entrance/kitchen, dining room, living-room, bedroom – with an intact spatial flow. This core cube is entirely clad in wood, adding warmth to the otherwise ‘hard’ palette of concrete, glass and steel. The inner cube is continued structurally underneath the house, making for the central ‘mushroom stalk’ foundation from which most of the house cantilevers out from.

Photographer credits: Åke E:son Lindman.