Contemporary Summer House by Filter Arkiteketer

This is Summer House Skatoy, a contemporary summer cottage located in Skåtøy, an island in the Kragerø archipelago, on the South coast of Norway. It was designed by Filter Arkiteketer. The house sits on a total surface of 1,080 square feet and it was completed in 2009.The project didn’t start from scratch. There was an already existing cottage on the site. It was originally built around 1940. It was not in good shape and it had a lot of damage.

Summer House Skatoy picture6

The architects decided to start their new project from there. They built the summer house on the footprint of this old cottage and it turned out to be a very good idea. The client requested a summer house that would open towards the archipelago, allowing beautiful views and providing private outdoor areas. The main entrance of the house is facing the public areas of the cottage.

Summer House Skatoy picture6
Summer House Skatoy picture6
Summer House Skatoy picture6
Summer House Skatoy picture6
Summer House Skatoy picture6
Summer House Skatoy picture6

The size and shape of the site also dictated part of the design. As a result, the house was organized in two volumes. The first one contains a sleeping cabin while the second one features a living and dining area. Both volumes create private outdoor spaces on the upper level. These areas are connected to the private outdoor space located on the lower level. Another challenge was to make this a maintenance free summer house. In order to make that possible, it was clad in untreated timber with dry stone walls and sedum for the roof.