I originally designed Villa Lena as my own home. At the same time, it is a study of a single space in the form of a dwelling house. The concept is that the outdoor and indoor spaces are one; with the gardens drawing the building into the openness of nature. All walls facing nature are made of glass, with solid walls erected only between the neighbours or the road.
Inside, the delimitation of the rooms is indefinite, and none of rooms are sound insulated. The different “zones” are merely suggestive, created either with thin curtains or loose components. In my choice of coarse materials I was striving for a connection with nature: the inner surfaces are of fine-sawn, rough tongue and groove boarding and the floor is concrete with blue and clear crushed glass mixed in.
The frame of the house is made of prefab wooden components. All internal and external cladding was done on site. The external envelope is made of Siberian larch. I did all the building work myself together with carpenter Martti Raittila.
Olavi Koponen