With VILLA UPSIDE DOWN the Jutland architectural practice CEBRA has turned the house on its head. On an 850m2 plot looking out over a lake, close to Silkeborg, Denmark, the architects have allowed the view to determine the design of the house.
A SIMPLE IDEA
In VILLA UPSIDE DOWN, the building programme has been turned on its head: the bedrooms are on the ground floor, while the main rooms and the kitchen are on the first floor. “We work on the principle that a single sentence or a single drawing must be able to show why the house looks as it does,” says architect Kolja Nielsen, co-owner of CEBRA: “So when you ask why the main rooms and the kitchen are on the top floor, the short answer is: “Because that is where there is the best view of the lake”.”
THE HOUSE
According to the architects, the design of the house is a confrontation with the common or garden square, detached house. Architect Kolja Nielsen explains that it is a composite house, the multi-angular shape of which means that it integrates better with its surroundings than if it was placed as a square encircled by the garden on the plot.
In practice, the house consists of a main building containing the communal area, such as the main rooms, bathroom and kitchen. Attached to this are a number of small “extensions” with the bedrooms, terrace and a shed, which create sheltered corners in the garden. Clad with cedar and with a zinc roof, the house is intended in time to stand like a grey accent in the green landscape.
Click to enlarge bottom drawing