Experimental House C663 Fosen

This house is meant as a contribution to the current sustainability debate, and a possible reply to a few central questions:

1. What do we need for a good life?
2. Can a small house, by virtue of its architecture, offer the same quality of life as a large house?
3. Can the conscious design of places inside and out extend the range of use, even in a cool climate?

It is not the smallest dwelling imaginable, but defined as a villa, it shrinks; it is located on the Fosen peninsula just 40 minutes drive from the city of Trondheim, and in combination with a flat in town, it offers a very nice total life habitat all year round.

Compactness has been a decisive parameter. The house has a traditional timber post-and-beam structure, clad externally with heartwood pine panelling. The structure gives room for 15 cms of insulation, with a further 15 cms between structure and cladding. There are double glazed windows in timber frames.

The house is placed in a fan-shape, open to the southwest sun. In this climate the sun rapidly heats the interior, and the exterior sun-facing wall stays warm all afternoon.