Making the most of the daylight was the starting point for the design of this all-year-round leisure home. The high-level windows encircling the building bring the daily sun cycle into the heart of the interior and make it a part of everyday living.
The building wraps round an atrium facing the Kallavesi landscape. The living room and bedroom with their builtin fireplace form the core of the building, which can be kept warm in winter as well as summer. Other rooms are used as and when required.
Apart from the brick-tile finished floor, the entire construction is in timber. Internal and external walls are in thick, top-quality, tonguedand-grooved pine boarding with plenty of heartwood to provide variation in colour. The doors and windows, fixed without architraves, are also in pine.
The external surfaces will turn grey over time and the colourless wood-preservative will reduce colour variation. Internal doors and furniture are treated with wood oil. The slanting ceilings are in selected, knot-free aspen which reflects the light coming in through the high-level windows. The fixed furniture was built-in from cross-laminated pine. Doors and ventilators were all hand-made.
The building work was done with exceptional skill by a single carpenter and the final result is of joinery quality. The building designs integrated the architect’s plans and sections. No paper was needed – when the builder needed a detail, he looked for it directly from the architect’s computer files.