Casa Spodsbjerg sits within a beautiful plot facing the open sea, separating East and West Denmark. The architectural brief for Casa Spodsbjerg was to create a residence that could house a growing family with both children and grandchildren – It would become a summer home for a couple and at the same time function as an ideal setting for family weekends and sunny summer holidays.
The house took inspiration from the previous building a traditional summer house from the 1920s, as well as more contemporary, natural influences. One of the main considerations was that the house should blend into the area. The new design was bigger than the existing structure in place, so it was very important that the house was visually brought down in scale. Over time, the design grew organically to cover new needs and to adapt to the site specific qualities of the plot.
The structure is composed of two parallel and staggered volumes on a concrete foundation. The sitting rooms and bedrooms are on the first floor, cantilevered from the base. This part of the building is clad with black painted wooden boards.
The kitchen and living room features expansive floor to ceiling windows to achieve an unbroken view of the sea and private beach alcove to the East. The spa, some bedrooms, basement and bathrooms are on the lower story and are more shielded, allowing for a quiet and peaceful place to rest.
Casa Spodsbjerg uses a limited number of exceptional materials in its design. Concrete is used for the base and internal forms and a consistent palette of light coloured Dinesen douglas planks are used throughout - on the floorboards, stair hand rails, kitchen table, bathroom back wall the and ceiling. Outside, Black painted fir wood clads the façade. All ceilings run from exterior to interior and are in douglas pine.
Inspiration for the refined material palette of wood and concrete originated from both the client and environment, explains architect and partner at Christoffersen Weiling Architects, Niels Christoffersen. The client had seen summerhouses previously created by the same design team on the island of Rømø, which are also in concrete and dark wood and was inspired. At the same time Casa Spodsbjerg is situated in a mixed area with both permanent residences (in concrete) and summerhouses (in wood). Therefore the two materials were chosen to help ensure a simple and natural architectural expression, says Niels Christoffersen.