A holiday house on a Norwegian fjord drinks in spectacular views

The splendour of the Norwegian fjord landscape forms an unimpeachable backdrop to this holiday home by Office Inainn. Set high on the slopes above the water in Valldal on the country’s spectacular western coast, the house is designed to follow the contours, a viewing platform that’s also a warm and inviting place to stay.

Exploring the Norwegian fjord through this holiday home's striking vistas

In choosing not to level the steep site, the architects set themselves a structural and programmatic challenge, one that shaped every facet of the design. Instead, a concrete foundation serves as a raised platform on which the single level house is built, flanked by a pair of terraces that are raised up above the void.

The house itself is formed from two rectangular volumes, slightly misaligned, with a taller, narrower volume providing a top-lit entrance and access corridor that runs the length of the site. It’s flanked by a lower structure containing the accommodation, cantilevered out above the slope. Where the tall volume is austere and complete lacking in windows on the entrance façade, the view is revealed via a long run of glazing looking across the fjord. At the upper level, a band of clerestory windows brings light into the main corridor.

At the ends of the house, the two volumes are intertwined, with cladding that wraps around the structures to create an enclosed entrance porch, reaching down to the ground to root the house in the landscape. This sense of something that has grown out of the slope, rather than been imposed upon it is further heightened by the dark wood cladding.

The entrance sequence, along a narrow path between the rock and the building, is effectively continued by the tall, top-lit entrance corridor, with its polished concrete floors. The architects describe it as a ‘gentle transition from wild landscape to warm interior.’ Visitors pass a cloakroom and the doors to the three modest, cabin-like double bedrooms and one of two bathrooms before they reach the linear living/dining space and the dramatic reveal of the fjord and mountains beyond. Careful framing enhances the drama of the landscape, with a separate vista provided off the kitchen, which also has access to another terrace.

Dark wood cabinetry by Limstrand is paired with timber floors and olive paintwork in the main space. Window frames are also dark, with floor to ceiling top-hung curtains to cover the vast panes of glass. Furniture was supplied by Fjordfiesta. All these materials were sourced locally where possible and kept deliberately muted in order to foreground the majesty of the surroundings. ‘We didn’t want to add to the landscape,’ says practice founder Maksymilian Sawicki, ‘We wanted to continue it.’

The client, who has a longstanding connection to the area, specified that nature was to lead the project first and foremost. At a very modest 127 sq m, the holiday house is neither grandiose nor ostentatious yet still conveys a richness of craft and detail that is utterly befitting its spectacular location. Based in Ålesund, Office Inainn describes its work as having a ‘focus on simplicity, functionality, and sustainability.’

The studio is committed to minimising the environmental impact of its projects without compromising a dynamic and spectacular relationship with landscape. With this impressive project they've more than succeeded.

inainn.eu