What is this small house prefab on the water? It’s 70 square meters of laminated timber construction, wooden deck and terminal base. Four meters in height where even the skylights can be opened.
“People want to stay rural in the summer – but still want all the facilities like toilets and showers. We have been striving for simplicity and a sense of freedom so that you experience the difference between cabin homes and permanent homes,” said Johnny Andersson and Michaela Tengblad, who created the summer house.
Johnny and Michaela, who work at Earth Architects, have designed this small prefab house for summer fun. Notice the housing structure with large glass windows including the roof. The idea is that you should feel that you have the sky as a roof. The large room should feel like a studio or greenhouse, a place where you can paint, pottery and work. Without a lot of sofas that you do not use. When you socialize as you sit at the dinner table. Living rooms are often the least used – if not the television is there.
A starting point for Michaela’s and Johnny’s prefab house design work has been to find the difference between permanent residence and holiday home at the same time they wanted to meet the requirements of convenience. Therefore, there is a toilet, shower and kitchen, but the shower is outdoors and the simple kitchen counter is more workbench which continues outdoors. The house has no hall with a definite admission, but outside several doors and sliding windows can be used. The bedroom’s surface is minimized but a bench in the main room is both storage and can serve as extra sleeping.
“When we designed the house we started from what we ourselves could afford. Therefore, we have worked with simplicity and rugged materials. But to build simple is usually difficult because you cannot hide the errors,” said the designers.
The basic concept of this prefab home design is a 70-square-meter small house, but it can be made larger and designed by the owner’s wishes. One part is built in wood and the other is the concrete foundation and steel structure. The house is winter insulated and equipped with a stove.
“We think that the house is equally suited to lie on a beach in a forest glade or in a holiday home area.”
Johnny sees no problem with having large skylights in the small house. “On the contrary, it is well amazing to hear the rain and watch the snow fall and experience the weather.”
Earth Architects work broadly with everything from private homes to prefab house designs to sheltered housing, from the landscaping to the design of the door handles. The team is Johnny Andersson, 47, who co-founded the architectural firm in 1999 in which nine people work today. Johnny’s dream home is a town house in New York, a hybrid between villa and apartment with its own entrance and terrace; and Tengblad Michaela, 40, who has been with the company for six years. Her dream home is a custom-designed, climate-villa in rough concrete and plywood.
Illustration: Koloss.se
