Built in 1905 as two detached log houses, later merged by the addition of a kitchen, the cottage was gradually transformed, including architect Ivar Bentsen’s addition of a stove and chimney and the introduction of a new shed.
The structure is rebuilt as a lightweight timber frame construction, allowing the exterior to maintain the protected expression of the old cottage. The new interior interprets the memories and accumulated features for contemporary conditions, informed by the modern structure, and expressed through partly painted wooden surfaces, peculiar nooks and niches.

Exterior walls are internally clad in wide horizontal boards referring to formerly exposed logs. The walls separating rooms are covered in thinner vertical panels. Pressure-resistant roof insulation enables the rafters to remain exposed under the roof. The original disposition of rooms is slightly altered; walls separating shared spaces are removed, though the separation they created can still be traced through material changes. A tiled grid is laid out in the hallway, kitchen and bathroom, shifting in colour between the spaces. Wooden walls are left untreated or painted in colours drawn from the former interior. Niches and alcoves are recreated by leaving wooden surfaces unpainted.

These strategies allow rooms and the overall disposition to be continuous yet self-contained, introducing a density of personal, unconventional spaces. The original cottages’ complexity is reinterpreted as a clearly defined patchwork of shifting materials and colours, visible from one room to the next, creating a contemporary space pragmatically reinterpreting the past.

Engineer: Ingeniørgruppen Vestjylland

Photography by Laura Stamer