Helsinki-based studio Helin & Co Architects has recently completed the Villa Snow White project.
This two-story contemporary coastal residence overlooks an archipelago in Espoo, the second largest city in Finland.
This project has been shortlisted for the 2011 World Architecture Festival in the House category.
Villa Snow White by Helin & Co Architects:
“The building locates on the top of a hill facing south, towards the archipelago spreading along the Espoo coast.
An obsolete old villa was cleared out off the property before the construction of the new building. The neighbours of the property are a ten year old flat roof detached house and a villa from the 50s.
The old trees of the property played a big role in the designing process. The openings of the interiors were set by their location.
Woodnotes Design and the authentic minimalism of their products set the direction for the visual style of the building. It was the client’s wish that the building would display the same feel of authentic materials that is also found upon
Ritva Puotila’s textile art.
The building serves two functions: it works both as the client’s family home ans as a showroom for Woodnotes.
The main entrance locates through a closed outdoor atrium, facing the West towards the evening sun. The atrium can also be entered from the kitchen and via a bridge and a staircase from the sauna.
The spaces live with the Northern light and adapt the white surfaces to the scenery in which it locates all the way to the distant horizon of the sea.
The concrete structure of the building was casted on the location over steel pilars and cladded with snow white plastered tiles. The surfaces of the interiors are light and the floors are mostly solid oak and limestone.”
Photos courtesy of Helin & Co Architects
Source: DesignBoom
