Not a month goes by without Danish architects and Danish design in the news, as design seems to be one of the primary exports from the tiny Scandinavian country. To be fair, the attention isn't a bad thing. Denmark has a rich heritage of furniture designers and architects who have transformed spatial thinking around the world. Some thoughts were so “BIG,” that they envisioned inhabiting the moon or making plans for a Masterplanet.
So what does it mean to deliberately design homes and comfortable living spaces for the Scandinavian lifestyle? Building with local materials that match the mindset and the weather of the northern climates is an undertaking that has continued to thrill the architectural community. In this article we focus on the heritage of Scandinavian architectural design and present a case study showing how a private villa has obtained that characteristic personality through well-considered architectural design.
Danish Design: a Tale of Immortal Aesthetics
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Danish design? Many might think of the famed 20th-century Danish designer Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971), whose furniture brought Danish design to the worldwide stage with its sophisticated and sleek lines. Although his light and simple Danish furniture first became popular in the 1940s and 1950s, simplicity, functionality, and elegance have always influenced Danish design thinking. To this day, furniture, architecture, fashion, and jewelry are all areas in which Danish designers excel with these principles in practice.
Creative and decisive architecture has always played a key role in Danish-designed buildings. From Utzon’s pioneering Sydney Opera House to Bjarke Ingels’ popular Amager Bakke, a waste-burning station with a year-round artificial ski slope on top. Apart from these famous star-projects, however, Danish architecture has been strongly influenced by simplicity since its golden age, which lasted through the 1950s. This era still stands today as an immortal tale of fine aesthetics, where less is more in the bigger picture.
Hierarchy: Thinking by the Sea
While it was actually more common for private homes to be designed by architects 60 years ago than it is now, one Danish architecture firm dedicates their work to keeping this legacy alive and well. Meet Christoffersen & Weiling Architects, who primarily focus their energy on designing private villas. The architects Niels Christoffersen and Erik Weiling design projects with a focus on aesthetics, sensuousness, and functional durability.
Their latest project, Casa Sand, places much of the same significance and attention on simplicity as their architectural grandfathers exercised. The concept of Casa Sand is clear at first glance: two horizontal ribbons of vertical bricks that salute the sea. The bottom ribbon elevates the house to achieve the stunning sea view, while the top ribbon frames that view, Niels Christoffersen explains:
"The architecture’s intent is to emphasize focus on the horizon. When designing a house with such a picturesque location and scenery, you take a pledge to stay true to your core idea: horizontal hierarchy. In the case with Casa Sand, the obvious choice was [to] use Ultima long format bricks to accentuate the long vertical lines. The bricks have an adequate weight, that settles the house nicely in the dunes to dwell peacefully when the harsh autumn storms rage [in] the bay of Aarhus."
Casa Sand is seemingly so simple in a bold way. Why is this house an example of Scandinavian architecture?
"Scandinavian architecture just comes naturally when you live here. Subjected to the seasons’ lighting conditions, you work completely different and subtly with light. From the softer bluish northern light to the warmer heat from the south. Daylight bounces off a light-tinted sand coloured brick in a certain way. That’s no coincidence given the light conditions. Thoughtful Nordic design tradition is when both material choices, layout and lines reach a higher meaning. You do not have to be an architect to see it. It’s just there."
What is the most significant detail that you are most fond of in Casa Sand?
"It’s seemingly so simple to select an array of desired materials for your new house. It’s much harder to choose as few as possible. But it’s in the deselection of materials, and the right materials, that hierarchy occurs. In Casa Sand you can take in the view of the sea anywhere in the house. You literally wake up to it, brush your teeth to it, or shelter from the wind to it in the outdoor courtyard; and still take in the ocean. It seems so simple, but it takes a lot of time on-site and trust from the client to achieve that vision."
Are private villas like Casa Sand the trademark of Christoffersen & Weiling Architects?
"Private villas are a discipline in which we specialize. We will focus on this discipline, which has been a bit neglected by the subject, if you ask me. A little has happened since we went from the golden age of the 1950s. I think we are obliged to protect this unique Danish heritage in a suitable modern form. Because when we choose to use our common resources to burn a brick, then it must carefully be filled with poetry that will stand there for many years."
