Anders Falk y Tuula Falk - Suecia

La parcela es muy estrecha, entre un pequeño lago y una carretera, y la casa se halla a mitad de camino entre ambos. El primer paso para el diseño fue medir la posición exacta de cada unos de los robles que pueblan el terreno. La forma de la casa deriva en gran parte de ese condicionante -está prácticamente encajada entre los árboles- y tiende a lograr las mejores vistas hacia el lago. Las ventanas hacia allí son amplias y las que dan a la carretera son estrechas para lograr privacidad.

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Anders Falk y Tuula Falk
Anders Falk y Tuula Falk en arkinetia

Fotos: James Silverman
james @ jamessilverman.co.uk
James Silverman en arkinetia

Memoria original en inglés::

CREDITS:

Text:
Lakshmi Bhaskaran

Photography:
James Silverman

Stylist:
Mary Margaret Leece

Architect:
Anders Falk
White arkitekter AB
S:t Larsgatan 32 B
582 24 Linköping
T: +46 13 35 57 60
F: + 46 13 14 98 12
E: anders.falk@white.se

Furniture:
Tuula Falk
Tuula Falk Design
Västantorpsvägen 5
597 41 Åtvidaberg
T: + 46 120 124 21
F: + 46 120 141 54
E: tuula.falk@passagen.se

Title:
Lake Side
Working together for the first time, architect Anders Falk and furniture designer Tuula Falk joined forces to create the ultimate, complete living space.

MAIN TEXT:

Situated in the village of Åtvidaberg, Sweden, this beautiful residential home is the work of architect, Anders Falk and his wife, furniture designer, Tuula Falk. Having never previously collaborated on a project in this way, this was a first for the couple. “This was a very different way of working for me, to be working with my husband,” explains Tuula, “But it did mean that we were able to begin planning the interior very early on.”

“We started with a narrow site with a small lake at the front and a road to the back,” continues Anders. “It was a rather narrow and difficult site, so initially we came up with three quite different proposals - one which located the house very close to the lake, one very close to the road and one in the middle. We finally chose to place the house in the centre with the same distance to the road and to the lake.”

As the site is surrounded by old oak trees the Falk’s awareness of their immediate surroundings was key to their design. “We began the design process by measuring the exact location of every tree on the site,” says Anders. “So the shape of the house very much came from the layout of the trees. It is almost shoehorned in between them.” Anders was also keen to make the most of the beautiful views over the lake. “The design is such that all the windows fronting the lake are very big and those fronting the road are more closed,” he explains. “We wanted to create a house that is very private, even though it is very open and really worked with the design to achieve that.”

Located on the ground floor and set within one long, open-plan space are the living room, dining room, library and kitchen, as well as two more private rooms housing the two main bedrooms. The large windows fronting the house allow for plenty of natural light whilst providing extensive views over the lake. One side of the building also has an upper floor. Here, there are two guest rooms with an accompanying kitchen, as well as the main storage areas.

In designing the interior, much of which is furnished with Tuula’s own designs, simplicity was key. ‘I wanted it to be as simple as possible with lots of light and oak - to be practical and warm but with a simple aesthetic,” she says. Incorporating built-in furniture was another aspect of the design they were able to plan into the design. “We wanted to create furniture that really belonged to the house.” A number of pieces of furniture, including the table, stools and lounge chair in the living room, the dining table, chairs and sideboard and a chair in the library, were designed by Tuula for Rintala, a Finnish furniture company with whom she has worked for a number of years. Aside from the tiled bathroom floors, flooring throughout the house is in solid oak.

The large ‘Puro’ table that dominates the living room is simply framed by four floor cushions set on a carpet from Woodnotes. In the corner of the room a ‘Duelli; chair provides the perfect place to relax and take in the views over the lake. Two ‘Laine’ stools frame the simple line of fireplace, while the floor cushions were simply taken from an existing sofa and their covers reversed.

A glass wall separates the library from the living room, providing an element of privacy without visually disturbing the all-important open-plan feel of the space. On a practical level, this also makes it is possible to watch television in one room and listen to music in the other without disturbing either. One wall of the library is lined with a large built-in bookcase, in front of which two Italian-designed armchairs with matching footstools again allow you to make the most of the vista. Tuula also designed the wooden plates on the wall and floor, while the lamps are by the Swedish lighting company Aspeqt. Situated in the corner of the room is a solid, hand-carved birch ‘Sonetti’ chair, originally designed by Tuula in 1990. The solid oak dining table and eight chairs are partially concealed by a large oak sideboard, providing a semi-partition from the rest of the room as well as a practical storage space.

The kitchen is by a local manufacturer, Falerum Kitchen, while Italian tiles by Cesi enhance the simple linear aesthetic. Heading into the main bedrooms, each of which has its own en-suite bathroom, the distinctive design of Tuula’s ‘Peltola’ headboard is mirrored in the matching bench. The birch screen was the result of a school project Tuula undertook with some carpentry students. The two bedside tables are the same as the sideboard in the library. Here, however, they have a multifunctional use as the drawers can be removed to create a simple workstation. In the adjoining bathroom, Cesi tiles dominate the space giving it an almost graphic quality, punctuated only by one Tuula’s oak ‘Laine’ stool.

For such a small house, the design process was, however, quite long, as Anders explains. ”It was interesting because a lot of our projects are rushed but here we took more time.” From the Falk’s first sketches to completing the design of the exterior and the layout, the house took six months to design. “It was also rather nice because Tuula, myself and the customer all had similar views about furniture and design so the whole process went very smoothly.”

Image Captions:

Living room:
Oak dominates the main living area, paying homage to the trees outside visible through the vast windows, while low-level furnishings ensure the clean aesthetic is not disturbed.

Bathroom:
In the bathroom, Italian tiles by Cesi provide the perfect canvas for Tuula’s oak ‘Laine’ stool to shine.

Kitchen:
Simplicity and practicality are key in the kitchen area where Italian mosaic tiles contrast beautifully with the simple lines of the cupboards.

Bedroom:
The matching headboard and bench provide an immediate focal point as you enter the bedroom.

Library
Built-in bookshelves seamlessly integrate the interior and exterior while Italian-designed furnishings prove an added sense of luxury.

Exterior:
Overlooking the lake, the house itself is surrounded by old oak trees. Lighting designer Torbjörn Eliason at White Architects created the exterior lighting.