Tag Archives: scandinavian design

Stunning modern home comes with an all-glass conservatory that intersects through the architecture!

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You’ve never seen a skylight look this beautiful! Meet the Chalet-2, a modern bungalow-style home designed by Ukrainian architect and interior designer, Alex Svyryd. Designed in black, with almost cabin-like proportions, the home boasts of a clean, Scandinavian-inspired design that sort of looks like a rock with a crystal jutting through it. The crystal in question, is the Chalet-2’s gorgeous conservatory, which cuts through the building’s architecture, creating a two-way window that allows outsiders to admire the chalet’s interiors, and the home’s residents to get a stunning view of their surroundings… enjoyed best at sunset with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate between your hands!

The house’s black appearance tends to give it an air of secrecy, but the glass conservatory almost challenges that, providing a beautiful peek into the house’s warm and cozy, wooden interiors. The conservatory even acts as a skylight, allowing light to make its way through right into the house’s living room, illuminating the interiors with a shaft of direct natural light that diffuses all over the house, illuminating it beautifully during the day.

Designer: Alex Svyryd

This versatile lounge chair opens up every room with its foldable build and Scandinavian design

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Living in small spaces calls for either multifunctional or foldable furniture. When you have the choice to fold up and stow away a lounge chair or use hidden compartments in a bed frame for storage, the space in your bedroom or living area completely opens up. Following the debut of their modular FK Bookcase System, furniture maker Carl Hansen & Søn introduces the Plico Chair, a handcrafted wooden lounge chair that folds into itself for easy storage.

The Plico Chair got its name from the Latin translation, “To fold.” Built using Scandinavian design flairs and minimal ornamentation, the Plico Chair’s frame is crafted from solid oak wood for a natural look and sturdy base. The rear legs of the Plico Chair fall back, allowing a natural recline for the cushion to rest. Upholstered in linen canvas, the cushion also evokes a subtle comfort with organic tones and lasting protection from inevitable wear and tear. A natural leather hide strap extends from the rear legs to the front of a chair to create an armrest propped up with a center wooden peg. Designed to be disassembled for easy storage, the Plico Chair features exposed brass fitting and visible joints, enhancing its already elemental aesthetic.

With such an elegant look and versatile design, Knud Erik Hansen, CEO of Carl Hansen & Søn describes the chair’s appeal, “The Plico Chair is an extremely versatile piece of furniture – not only in its function of being a foldable lounge chair, but also in its appearance, and it fits elegantly into the living room, the cottage, and the hotel room and lobby. It is a comfortable and cozy chair to sit in with a good book and a cup of coffee.”

Designer: Carl Hansen & Søn

The Plico Chair comes in two forms, one includes a headrest, while the other does not.

Easily disassembled, the Plico Chair fold into itself for easy storage and portability.

The Plico Chair was designed to add an elegant, yet inviting flair to every room.

Leather strap and exposed brass fittings give the Plico Chair an elemental look.

Canvas linen covering gives the Plico Chair a comfortable and durable feel.

This handmade wooden amplifier is ditching the notion that all guitar amps should be ‘black boxes’

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If you really think about it, there’s no reason for amps to look the way they do. Somewhere down the line Marshall or Fender just embraced the black box style and it became an unsaid rule that all guitar amplifiers should be perfectly cuboidal and pitch-black with a faux leather texture. Guitar amps have been in line for a visual upgrade for quite some time now, and Belgium-based boutique amp brand has just the answer. Partnering with designer Joeri Claeys, the amp-makers have unveiled the GT Deluxe, a soft, minimal, earthy amp that uses bent plywood for a radically fresh aesthetic. The GT Deluxe doesn’t fit into the archetype of your regular guitar amp – it sports a rounded-rectangle design that feels as refreshing as the rounded rectangle icons on the iPhone did after years of square icons on Nokia phones. The amp’s rounded edges give it a distinctly warm appearance that fits well in studios, jam-rooms, or at house concerts. The amps still stack one above another, retaining their modular functionality.

Designed to usher a renaissance moment for guitar amps, the GT Deluxe embraces its wooden aesthetic. It comes with a black fabric clad on the front (as opposed to the grilles seen on regular amps) with Da Capo’s logo embroidered on, and has a beautiful leather-strap handle that lets you carry it around. “The main focus was on creating a minimalistic contemporary guitar amp that suits every interior”, Claeys mentioned. “Since most guitar amplifiers have looked the same for years, it was time to rethink its form for today’s musician.”

Each GT Deluxe cabinet comes made from Beechwood veneer that’s first bent into its signature rounded-rectangle shape before being finished to perfection using CNC machining. It’s capped off with an authentic leather handle on the top, and the formed front and back panels are wrapped with a black textile by Scandinavian brand Kvadrat. The dashboard on the top even comes with its own hidden LED backlight system that illuminates the controls, making it easy to find the right button when playing in half-lit rooms.

For the musically inclined, the GT Deluxe comes with switchable 20-watt Studio and 40-watt Stage outputs, and houses a 12” Celestion Alnico Cream speaker on the inside. Intuitive controls on the top let you calibrate the guitar’s sound, controlling your regular Bass/Mid/Treble/Reverb, as well as more unique controls like Pre-Gain and Headroom that give the musician a hands-on tube-amp tone-sculpting experience. The GT Deluxe can even be used as a pedalboard platform by hooking in effects pedals through the inputs/outputs on the back, and a Mic Out that lets you output your guitar’s sound to a DAW for recording, mastering, or sampling!

Designer: Joeri Claeys for Da Capo

These modular tiny homes have been grouped together to make a sustainable ski resort!

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I have an obsession with tiny houses because they let you be a proud homeowner without having to spend the rest of your life paying mortgages while optimizing every inch of space to work for your needs. Sustainably designed architecture projects like this one from Ark Shelter top my list – they are modern, flexible, modular, and help you do your bit for the environment without compromising on your lifestyle. This cluster of prefab cabins is located in a Slovakian forest for Hotel Björnson but can also be stand-alone homes. The minimalist shelters have a Scandinavian aesthetic and give you an eco-friendly getaway with minimal environmental impact. Ark Shelter has also won a Cezaar award in the category Architectural Fenomena – a recognition for the most exceptional architectural achievements of the year.

The modern retreat is made of 11 cabins and four wellness units that include saunas and relaxation rooms. The shelters are built in one piece, which gives the incredible mobility to reach your dream location. Every cabin rests on stilts to minimize site impact and has been carefully placed in between the trees to give you maximum privacy and maximum views! These units have two independent modules that can function as separate apartments or can be connected to create one shared space that can host up to eight people. There is a sliding wall partition that helps split or combine the cabin into two units and each comes with a living room, bedroom, children’s room, entry hall, and a bathroom.

Ark Shelter’s team used blackened spruce to clad the exteriors to blend the structure with the landscape. The cabins also have green roofs to visually tie the structures with the forest. The interiors were lined with large format spruce panels and oak parquet floors for a minimalist and spacious feel that was aligned with the Scandinavian aesthetic. The large insulated glazing blurs the boundaries between the interior and outdoor landscape. They are also fitted with an intelligent control system for heating and lighting so you can actually spend the whole day in bed or at the coffee table just staring out those huge windows. The skylight is one of my favorite details!

“We consider the concept of placing the modules between the trees ecological, not only for the tree preservation but also for the minimum contact of the modules with the ground due to raising them on stilts instead of laying on the classic concrete plate foundations. This allows the landscape to continuously flow under the building and breathe, while the green roof of the module doubles the biotope that lays beneath it,” explained the architects.

Ark Shelter aims to provide a shelter that helps you reconnect with nature while protecting both you and nature. These durable homes are oriented with our biological rhythms and have been designed to be adaptable to different stages of our lives. Each Ark Shelter cabin is built to expand, contract, move and keep up with the changing times, technology, and most importantly your needs – all without putting any burden on the planet. Now have I convinced you to be a tiny homeowner too?

Designers: Martin Mikovčák and Michiel De Backer of Ark Shelter













Scandinavian and Japanese interior designs come together to prove Japandi is not just a passing trend!

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I’m sure you’ve come across the term ‘Japandi’. It’s been gaining a lot of momentum and popularity recently, so let’s dive a little deeper into it. An amalgamation of the words Japanese and Scandinavian, Japandi is an interior design trend that marries Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics. It is the artful blending of both Japanese and Scandinavian design. Japanese minimalism and Scandinavian functionality are merged together to create a style that makes a space minimal without it being cold. Japandi-style spaces are warm, neutral, and comforting, and are smartly integrated with natural materials, craftsmanship, as well as calming color palettes. If this is an interior trend that resonates with you, and you would like to integrate it within your home, then you’re at the right place! We’ve curation a collection of interiors designs that are aesthetically pleasing, wholly functional, and truly Japandi.

Designed by Norm Architects, Archipelago Home is a holiday home that embodies both Scandinavian and Japanese design philosophies. A neutral theme of creams, greys, and whites is maintained throughout the home, with light wood furniture providing the ultimate Japandi finishing touch.

Located in Tokyo, the Inua Restaurant perfectly merges Scandivanian and Japanese aesthetics as well. Designed by OED Studio, the restaurant features Danish cabinetry and Japanese-style gardens. Danish timber floorboards are accentuated by the presence of a grid pattern on the ceiling. This intriguing pattern was inspired by the Japanese Tatami mats and their unique arrangement.

Japanese furniture brand Ariake organized an exhibition at the former Mexican embassy in Stockholm. Several designers from all over the globe took part in it. Clean wooden furniture perfectly complemented the textured and crumbling walls and ceilings. The authentic and ancient craftsmanship of Japan displayed in the stunning pieces was further accentuated by the raw and rustic Scandinavian architecture of the location.

Magdalena Keck designed this holiday home in the Catskill Mountains. Keck infused Japanese minimalism and Danish design, along with a touch of American crafts for the interiors of this home. Wooden floors, Danish furniture designs, Japanese pottery, and aspen wall cladding were used to create a home that feels very Japandi.

Design Studio Daytrip renovated this East London home. They transformed it into a serene and tranquil space by adding white-washed walls, cabinetry crafted from Douglas fir wood, and neutral-colored pieces of furniture. A palette of pale off-whites was maintained on most of the surfaces in the home. It’s a modern and urban living space inspired by Japanese and Scandinavian aesthetics.

HAF Studio designed this Japanese burger restaurant Yuzu in Reykjvík. Interestingly, even the interiors are a fusion…of Japanese and Nordic design. Raw natural materials which are seen in Nordic design such as concrete bricks, Douglas fir flooring, and yellow glass were used. Concrete walls left in their raw natural state, and uncolored wooden furniture add a sense of Japanese minimalism to the restaurant.

Norm Architects derived inspiration from both Scandinavian and Japanese design to create this workspace for Kinfolk magazine in Copenhagen. Wood, plaster, and glass were used to create an open and harmonious space, where people can move about freely. Muted and somber tones added a minimal touch, making the space feel less formal and more comforting.

Pan-Projects and Mok Architects combined Nordish and Japanese aesthetics to design Izumi in Copenhagen. The Japanese restaurant features interiors typically seen in Japanese restaurants such as translucent doors, as well as Nordish design such as the generous use of oak.

Designed by LA-based Working Holiday Studio, Casa Mami is a holiday home located in Pioneertown, California. The designers drew inspiration from Scandinavian and Japanese designs for the interiors of the home. Beige walls, grey floors, and minimal and muted furniture pieces create a very Japandi-style home.

The Pantechnicon Store in London was renovated by the architecture firm Farrells for almost five years. Wooden detailing, green plants, as well as a Nordish restaurant and a Japanese cafe create a space that is deeply influenced by Scandinavian and Japanese culture.

With Zeppelin-inspired cushioning, this plush beech wood daybed was designed for daydreaming!

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There’s no piece of furniture as classic and versatile as a daybed. Predating even the modern couch, daybeds have been sought after as elegant space savers since the 1600s. Typically consisting of a simple metal frame that carries a box spring to support a mattress, the daybed is like a modern bed that converts into a couch, for guests and residents to relax during the day. Teresa Lundmark and Gustav Winsth, two students attending Beckmans College of Design, recently collaborated with Gärsnäs, a family-owned factory of furniture-makers in Österlen, Sweden to design their own interpretation of the modern daybed, calling it Dag.

Lundmark and Winsth designed Dag for convenience above all else. Convenience in every sense of the word– relaxation, sustainability, and adaptability. Dag’s base is simple and clean, while the cushions are expressive and inviting, giving the daybed a mellow enough form to be placed in any room without obscuring or overshadowing the general feel of it. Gärsnäs furniture design expertise culminates with woodworking and since 2009, Gärsnäs has stayed committed to sustainability and eco-friendly design, making the team ISO 14001-certified, an international environmental management standard.

The combination of woodworking knowledge and sustainable design practices equipped Gärsnäs with the tools necessary to design a detailed, yet simple solid beech wood frame for Dag’s bolster, Zeppelin-inspired cushions to rest. The contrast between the cushions and base work together to enhance the daybed’s overall comfort, “The cushion swells out of the hollow base; a meeting between the scaled back and the expressive creates contrasts that accentuate them both,” notes Gustav Winsth.

Designers: Teresa Lundmark and Gustav Winsth x Gärsnäs

Dag’s detachable cushions naturally adhere to Gärsnäs’s furniture design reusability standards – minimizing the design’s environmental impact and expanding its life cycle.

Zeppelin-inspired cylinder cushions rise and sink according to the resting body’s silhouette.

Built from solid beech wood, Dag’s frame is simple and understated, yet durable and supportive.

This modular hotel concept merges environmentalism with escapism, making it the ideal retreat for 2021!

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Koto Design, a team of architects and designers known for constructing Scandinavian-inspired modular homes and small buildings, has recently teamed up with Aylott + Van Tromp, an experience-driven design and strategy team, to deliver Hytte, a new modular hotel concept. The collaboration was one born of the times. With the onset of COVID-19 came socially distancing regulations, which put a damper on a lot of our travel plans. However, the regulations have also brought us closer to a collective quest for community and a renewed sense of environmentalism. Noticing this, Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp conceptualized Hytte.

Similar in appearance to Koto Design’s existing geometric cabins, Hytte is a modular concept that delivers clusters of cabin units to landowners, developers, and operators who hope to provide an escapist experience to guests looking for a retreat or holiday. The makers at Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp design and build everything from the ebony black exterior to the cabin’s refined interiors. Merging with the natural surroundings, the cabins capture a minimalist Nordic design, with a soothing balance of natural wood and marbled stone interiors. Inside the units, guests will find a single room with a wood stove fireplace, a sunken bed that merges with a nearby window bench and storage area, a separate bathroom, and finally, a cathedral skylight that brings guests even closer to the outdoors.

Each concept is based around a single cabin unit, which can increase to a cluster of multiple modular units, reinforcing the comfort of a community that socially distanced regulations have curbed by means of hotel shutdowns and resort modifications. In constructing the modular concept of Hytte, Koto Design and Aylott + Van Tromp hope to reinstill a sense of community for those looking for a retreat and to present it in settings that encourage guests to reflect on the relationship between travelers and their environment.

Designers: Koto Design x Aylott + Van Tromp

Hytte cabins merge with the surrounding outdoors no matter where they’re placed.

Reinforcing a traditional sense of community, Hytte can accommodate clusters of cabins.

“Hytte redefines prefabricated, modular hotels and retreats dedicated to creating space for escapism.”

Ebony-stained wooden panes line the exterior of each cabin unit.

Come night, each cabin blends into the darkness, emanating only the light that comes from indoors.

Each bathroom in Hytte’s cabins comes equipped with storage areas, a shower, and a wash basin.

Hytte’s cabins include a king-sized sunken bed that merges with the unit’s glass windows.

“They are fully constructed & fitted out and furnished within the factory and will arrive on site ready to be used.”

Scandinavian Architectural Designs that make for minimal, simple and functional spaces!

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Scandinavian designs always manage to be minimal, quaint, and awe-spiring, whether it’s a product design, interiors, or especially their architectural designs. The Scandinavian architecture will always leave you with a warm feeling in your heart, and intense admiration for the attention to detail, and the delicate touches each structure consists of. Scandinavian-inspired cabins are my all-time favorite, every time I come across one, I feel like tossing everything aside and embarking on a cabin vacation! But Scandinavian architecture extends beyond these cabins and encapsulates much more. However, the quintessential usage of dark wood, the minimal vibe, and an eco-friendly and sustainable attitude while building something, remain common in most of their designs. And, we’ve curated some of our favorites for you to go gaga over!

185 miles north of the Arctic Circle, on the tip of the island Andøya, lies the quaint little town Andenes. Venture a little more, and you’ll find Bleiksdjupa, the deep-sea valley where migrating whales pass by, qualifying the area as one of the best locations in the world for catching a glimpse of the exquisite marine mammal. Whales are one of my favorite cetaceans; big, beautiful and always minding their own business. And to “create awareness and inspire learning and conservation of whales and their environment”, the Danish studio Dorte Mandrup will be building ‘The Whale’, a new visitor attraction in northern Norway. “Rising as a soft hill on the rocky shore– as if a giant had lifted a thin layer of the crust of the earth and created a cavity underneath”, The Whale is a perfect example of the seamless integration that can take place between architectural structures and their surrounding environment.

The Base Cabin is a perfect picture of the modern tiny home with its minimal Scandinavian aesthetic and sleek build. Studio Edwards’ Base Cabin gives the micro-living designs a whole new angle – literally! The angular shape of this tiny house on wheels makes it stand out while still being subtle. Inspired by the typical A-frame cabins in the woods and airstream trailers, this little home is built on a tri-axle trailer. “The A-frame is structurally efficient and uses less material than conventional portal framed buildings. Mute in its appearance and clad in black rubber makes it blend into its surroundings,” says the team.

A Hungarian company called Hello Wood has designed a tiny minimalist cabin that you can assemble yourself for creative space solutions or just an escape from your living room. The prefabricated cabins start at $10,200 and have been crafted in a way that anyone can put it together, it is truly the ultimate DIY project. With the tiny home market ‘growing’ rapidly, the Kabinka cabin is positioned to be like IKEA furniture – easy to assemble with an aesthetic that is loved by most. The Kabinka cabin comes in four sizes that range between 129 and 215 square feet. It is a tiny cabin but it has high ceilings – over 12 feet high actually – that bring a sense of spaciousness and luxury to the otherwise simple structure. The ceiling space is well optimized to give the cabin a loft-like setup that can be used as storage space or a cozy reading nook. Another cool thing about Kabinka is that it is a flatpack design!

Plant Prefab, a California-based architecture firm that prefabricates sustainable homes, recently collaborated with Koto, a UK-based studio that designs modular homes, to build two residences called LivingHomes. Devised to meet both LEED Platinum and net-zero standards, the homes were also designed and built on some Scandinavian design principles: minimalism and biophilia. The first home, Yksi, is a cantilevered, two-bedroom residence that employs biophilic design principles through ample deck space and large windows with unobstructed views of natural surroundings. On the first floor of Yksi, which means ‘first’ in Finnish, there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, an office space, and a utility closet. The second home, which is named after the Finnish word for ‘courtyard,’ Piha offers four bedrooms and three bedrooms, two courtyards and a deck, and a vast open living space that forms the heart of the home.

FLEXSE is a prefabricated micro-dwelling solution aka tiny house designed to adapt to ALL seasons, so even if winter wonderland is not your thing, this cabin will certainly be. The cozy modern structure is constructed entirely from 100% recyclable materials and can be assembled in parts on-site or positioned on foundations, allowing it to be set up in remote areas, the countryside, or even on water. Since the construction industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than aviation (12% vs 2% – can you believe it?), it is wonderful to see an all-season eco-friendly house. The first prototype was a small BBQ shack intended for cooking and then the team made sure it could be tailored for different purposes too – like a sauna, a guest house, a home office, and more. This eventually led to FLEXE being a complete tiny house. One of its most distinct details is the circular window which almost makes the house look like it has the most elegant monocle with a periscope-like view.

Raised up on stilts to avoid disrupting the natural landscape, all of the four different cabins were built using Passive house construction methods, each with homogenous shingle facades clad from locally-sourced, untreated Alsatian chestnut wood. Closest to the eco-hotel’s main building, which keeps an intimate culinary experience provided with homegrown produce as well as an exhibition showroom for local art and craftwork, guests can stay in the Low Grass Cabins. Designed for guests with limited mobility, the Low Grass Cabins comprise only one floor and were built to be universally accessible. Stationed into the gentle slopes at an angle, the Low Grass Cabins form upside-down, irregular pentagons in order to lock securely into the mountainside while still offering raised views of the valley below.

Today, in honor of Vilgerdsson’s expedition, a trail of five timber cabins called Flokehyttene, designed by Holon Arkitektur, punctuate Norway’s coastline, offering panoramic views of the gusty North Sea and the 19th-century Ryvarden lighthouse. Careful not to disrupt the landscape of Sveio, the five cabins were gently integrated into the rocky, seaside mass of land by drilling four holes for all the corners of each cabin where steel columns anchor the structures in place, providing guests with an up, close, and personal experience with the changing waters of North Sea. Four of the five cabins offer accommodations for five guests and the larger fifth cabin, named after Floke’s grandfather, Horda-Kåre, can sleep up to ten people and is also wheelchair accessible. The other four cabins are named after his mother Vilgjerd, daughters Geirhild and Tjogerd, and Faxe who joined Floke on his journey to the island. The sweeping, glass windows practically kiss the North Sea and make the cabins feel endlessly spacious.

The Diamanten Cabin, which is positioned atop a cylindrical support pillar in Oppdal, Norway, was constructed within its mountainous, pre-existing framework. The architects with A38 Arkitekter centralized environmental harmony in designing their winter annex; adjacent log cabins punctuate corners of the valley where the diamond-shaped cabin perks. The final structure is visually enigmatic, but chameleon-like in its commitment to reinvigorating, yet respecting the community to which it belongs. Nestled nearby traditionally vibrant timber cabins, the Diamanten Cabin is unassuming in size, with a total of only a single, open room. However, The Diamanten’s artistry is found not in its size, but in the way it appeals to the landscape and vernacular structures that cradle it. The frame of the cabin is structured so that the roof cascades gracefully in the direction of the massive mountain that frames its larger community.

On the island of Stokkøya, Norway lies a blackwood hill cabin. Surrounded by the sea to the west, and lush green landscapes to the east, it is a summer haven for a family of five. Expanding over several levels, the wooden cabin provides impressive views of its surroundings and is artfully balanced with them. The Kappland Arkitekter firm designed the cabin to ensure it perfectly merges with its surrounding landscape. Showcasing a typically Nordish minimal aesthetic, the cabin instantly washes you over with a sense of calm. “Perched on piles at the front and anchored on a concrete slab at the back, the building gently hovers on the slope, leaving hardly any footprint,” said the architecture studio. The leveled structure of the building creates several layers within the interiors of the cabin as well. According to the studio, one can experience the slopes of the hill within the house, and outside the house.

Meaning Joy in Finnish, the Ilo Playhouse is Koto’s first children’s cabin. And this wonderfully minimalist playhouse makes me want to dive right back into my childhood. Inspired by the simplistic beauty of Scandinavian timber cabins, Ilo appeals to both children and adults alike. Boasting an elegant log structure, supported by a slanted rooftop, the cabin comprises of three closed sides and an open one. Each closed side features a long rectangular window. The spacious windows and the open entryway allow the children to have their own personal space, all the while retaining a connection to the outside world. A place of their own, without having them feel too isolated. Ilo is perfect for the kids to read and play in, as well as engage in arts and crafts, with the open-spaced structure fueling the fire that is their imagination.

These hillside cabins in Norway form an eco-hotel, bringing guests to the edge of France!

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Sometimes a trip to a cabin in the woods or mountaintops to just get off the grid for a bit is all we need to recalibrate – to escape wireless service and social media, and rough it in the wilderness without the constant buzzing and notification reminders from our cell phones. Call me crunchy-granola, but it’s all I’ve been thinking about recently. Nestled somewhere in the northeastern region of France, that cabin awaits my arrival. Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, Norwegian architecture, landscape architecture, and design firm based in Oslo, recently finished work on an eco-hotel, called 48°Nord, located somewhere between the Vosges and Alsace regions of France. 48°Nord is a hive of 14 hyttes, Norwegian for small houses out in the countryside, that come in four different forms.

Raised up on stilts to avoid disrupting the natural landscape, all of the four different cabins were built using Passive house construction methods, each with homogenous shingle facades clad from locally-sourced, untreated Alsatian chestnut wood. Closest to the eco-hotel’s main building, which keeps an intimate culinary experience provided with homegrown produce as well as an exhibition showroom for local art and craftwork, guests can stay in the Low Grass Cabins. Designed for guests with limited mobility, the Low Grass Cabins comprise only one floor and were built to be universally accessible. Stationed into the gentle slopes at an angle, the Low Grass Cabins form upside-down, irregular pentagons in order to lock securely into the mountainside while still offering raised views of the valley below. The Tree and Ivy cabins at 48°Nord offer two-person accommodations and were given a vertical nature with three floors to provide high, sweeping views for guests to enjoy from the top floor’s window. Finally, the Fjell cabins accommodate bigger families with sleeping arrangements available for four people. The Fjell cabins also feature two outdoor terraces, giving the option of private time for each member of the family staying in the cabin.

The interiors of 48°Nord’s cabin are generally uniform, with rustic, light-colored wooden walls, simple, built-in furniture, as well as concave, geometric windows that were precisely prepared to offer uninterrupted views of the surrounding natural landscape and quaint town of Breitenbach below. The eco-hotel was designed and constructed in the name of Scandinavian design, leaning into the refined minimal elegance that comes with full use of small spaces and energy-efficient practices. Franco-Danish landscape architect and owner of 48°Nord, Emil Leroy-Jönsson says of the eco-hotel, “It is the meeting of my two passions, my two cultures; nature and architecture, Denmark and Alsace.”

Designer: Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter

Modular architectural design that brings a healthy mix of Scandinavian design and sustainability to your home!

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Plant Prefab, a California-based architecture firm that prefabricates sustainable homes, recently collaborated with Koto, a UK-based studio that designs modular homes, to build two residences called LivingHomes. Devised to meet both LEED Platinum and net-zero standards, the homes were also designed and built on some Scandinavian design principles: minimalism and biophilia. Biophilia is the hypothetical human tendency to interact with nature. Biophilic design, which could be inherently minimalist, interprets that human tendency for both interior and exterior spaces, producing a design concept used to increase the connectivity between a building’s residents and the natural world. In order to meet sustainability standards that match Plant Prefab’s mission statement, Koto looked toward Scandinavian design standards. Together they created two LivingHomes, constructed with recycled building materials with respect to the natural world, equipped with ultra-efficient heating and cooling systems, smart energy monitoring, LED lighting, recycled insulation and drywall, and low-flow water fixtures.

The first home, Yksi, is a cantilevered, two-bedroom residence that employs biophilic design principles through ample deck space and large windows with unobstructed views of natural surroundings. On the first floor of Yksi, which means ‘first’ in Finnish, there are two bedrooms, a bathroom, an office space, and a utility closet. The bedrooms are located on opposite ends of Yksi’s first floor, giving the feel of separate wings for the home’s residents, which enhances the design team’s devotion to Scandinavian design, conveying a sense of quiet luxury. Each bedroom comes with windows that practically take up an entire facade of the two-floor structure. Moving up to the second floor, Yksi is equipped with an open-plan kitchen for excellent cross-ventilation, a dining area, and two separate, outdoor deck areas for easy access to the open air.

The second home, which is named after the Finnish word for ‘courtyard,’ Piha offers four bedrooms and three bedrooms, two courtyards and a deck, and a vast open living space that forms the heart of the home. On the first floor, the open living space incorporates clever use of walls to delineate distinct rooms such as the kitchen and snug, a hideaway just off the main living area. Punctuating the open living area are two courtyards that offer sweeping views of nature and a deck that can be accessed through double-glass sliding doors. Residents can also find two of the four bedrooms on the first floor, once again on opposite ends for prime privacy and quiet, that are separated by a staircase. Following the staircase up to the second floor, residents will find two more bedrooms, one being the master bedroom, complete with an en-suite bath, marked with massive windows for endless views.

Designers: Plant Prefab x Koto