A house on a sloping lot by the sea, for a married couple where the brief stated that their lifestyle required a clear division in living spaces to accommodate their differing time schedules. The house was therefore divided along its central axis, creating two separate houses in one. One half being reserved for bathroom and bedrooms, the other for kitchen, dining and living rooms. So, while one may be up preparing a meal in the night, the other would sleep undisturbed.

But there is also an emotional aspect to the division which is about existing alongside nature, the weather and the passing of the seasons. Although the division is only a little over one metre, the sense of outside is significant when moving between the two parts of the house. Nature is experienced within this ‘in-between’ space, even if just for the few seconds it takes to close one door and open the next.

Contained by terraces and walls, the house is as sculpted from one solid block. The imagined continuation of the slightly lower peak of the bedroom-half clearly meets the peak of the living-half, as if the slit between was literally cut out. Similarly, all windows are as if punched-out using a tool-set of differently gauged square punches. The slightly oversized window panes were then ‘glued’ over the openings from the outside so that from inside there are no window frames and all glazing would be virtually invisible. The house then cast entirely in concrete to enhance the monolithic, mono-block, mono-material, monochrome theme.

The Lindé house was conceived in the formative years of Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects and, although this house was never built, many aspects of the concept have served as inspiration for later projects. For example, the management of sightlines, framed views and division/integration of room functions.