The book “Built by the Sea: Villas and Small Houses by Lund Hagem Architects is a showcase of private residences and summer houses in which the interplay between the built and unbuilt natural landscape achieves its maximum effect.
The Oslo-based architecture and urban design group Lund Hagem is celebrated for their unique sensitivity to the interplay of form, material and landscape. This large heavily illustrated monograph edited by Julie Cirelli and with an introduction by Erling Dokk Holm demonstrates the architects’ forward-thinking structures and environments.
Built by the Sea: Villas and Small Houses
Lush photographs, schematics and project floor plans all illustrate how the local landscape and architecture shape the formal and material vocabulary of their contemporary architecture and its deep roots in the Nordic tradition.
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In developing the individual design of each building, the firm deftly analyze the built and natural environment and determine which parts of a site should remain unbuilt, and which microclimates best lend themselves to domestic living.
It all started by designing the Norwegian king’s cabin
Established in 1990, the company is today managed by five partners; Svein Lund, Einar Hagem, Mette Røsbekk, Per Suul and Kristine Strøm-Gundersen. It all started when the architects designed the Norwegian king’s cabin at Mågerø in Tjøme, which was completed in 1993.
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After that, the architects received a lot of attention. The book showcases relatively simple cottage structures integrated into lush coastal landscapes as well as more challenging expressions like the Lyngholmen cabin, where a concrete shed extends beyond the quarry and constitutes the main building of the cabin.
Lund Hagem’s present projects
However, the architectural office has grown heavily on the construction of completely different dimensions. With 45 employees, they now work with the new Deichman library in Bjørvika and a residential complex in the Barcode area.
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The office has won numerous prestigious competitions and received a number of awards and citations for design excellence. Even though cottage construction is not the firm’s livelihood, they continue to build cabins and private houses on the seafront.
Norwegian Villas and Small Houses by the Sea, written by Tor Kjolberg