Skandinavisk design med närhet till naturen

Scandinavian design close to nature

Deep inside a small inlet by the sea in Ålesund is a minimalistic pearl of a villa. The constantly changing weather is reflected via the enormous glass fronts, creating a sense of dynamism in the facade. Indoors, the residents exploit the closeness to their surroundings in light, cosy rooms – thanks to a combination of smart home and low energy home technology.

The family from Ålesund wanted a house that would provide space for all the family and at every stage of life. Different zones would be required and different needs would have to be met – both indoors and outdoors. Some of the most important functions were energy efficiency, smart home technology, minimal maintenance and an openness to nature and the garden areas.  

Energy efficient solutions

The builder Pritchard wanted a house with low energy consumption. They therefore built a low energy house that uses ground source heat as its most important source for heating. A low energy house is defined as a home with a lower demand for heating energy than a standard home.  “Two metres from the house wall, an energy well has been bored with a depth of almost 200 metres. This hole is connected to the house’s internal heat pump, which provides domestic hot water and supplies almost 400 square metres with underfloor heating through water-borne heat,” says Pritchard. The family’s outdoor pool is also connected to this ground source heat, and they have installed a setup for solar cell solutions on the roof.

Transparency

The windows give a transparency in the facade and connect the different parts of the house. The windows are fixed glass facades from the floor and almost to the roof - a solution which fills the room with daylight.

Smart home solutions

The energy efficient home should also have plenty of smart functions. The builder explains that the heating, lighting and entrance doors are controlled via a mobile app, in addition to night time temperature lowering and heat storage. They have also installed their own weather station on the plot, which constantly measures and transmits temperature information to an automated heating control solution.

Scandinavian designed windows offer close contact with the environment

Even as a low energy home, the house should have large openings to join together the indoor and outdoor spaces in a minimalistic and stylish design. The functional home consists of many large windows and glass facades – in different shapes and sizes. “We wanted to have large window surfaces to create good contact with the garden and pool areas. It was important to plan for lots of light, and I wanted to keep the view to the west. At the same time, we wanted to maintain a minimalistic and modern style with a low level of maintenance,” says Pritchard.

The unique window formats placed specific requirements on the choice of materials. Only aluminium was good enough.

Aluminium is a strong, lightweight metal that is easy to shape and process.  Aluminium therefore allows you to create stable structures that are attractive, minimalistic and sustainable, and perfectly suitable for exposed environments, such as the Atlantic coast.The choice of supplier was also important, and it needed someone who knew the local conditions

“We wanted to use a local supplier with a well known brand. In addition, there was great flexibility with the architectural windows,” says Pritchard.

The great heights and the large surfaces required extreme precision from the window supplier. The largest windows were craned in. The large east facing window was especially demanding due to its size of 6 x 1 metres.

The house has an integrated balcony door in the glass facades, on both the first and second floors. In addition, two stepped, fully glazed corners were installed on both floors, a solution that creates an exclusive and attractive impression in the facade – both from the inside and the outside.

Both the glass facades and the windows were supplied in the colours RAL 7016 Anthracite grey (gloss level 80) on the outside. For the inside they chose a white colour, RAL 9010 Pure white (gloss level 80).