Villa Deer is a combination of an old summer house and it’s modern extension. Existing 1960’s cabin was built to lakeside in a former municipilaty of Kisko in Southwest Finland. Now a part of municipality of Salo, Kisko is known for it’s old copper mines but these days it’s mainly habited by summer residents.
The old cabin was relatively small consisting only of one room and a sauna and bathing spaces. The lone room was for both sleeping and livingroom purposes. New habitants needed more space for family members and visitors, so they decided to make an extension of two bedrooms.
Idea for the extension was to make a modern and radical architecture compared to the modest gable roofed summer house architecture of the 1960’s. Slanted end wall and zig-zag facade facing the lake create contrast to the more common rectangular building mass of the old part. New and old was connected by using similar facade material and matching roof angles.
Extension part was designed to continue from the living room as seamless series of spaces that’s seperatable if needed. New entry was built to join the new and old parts alongside new atrium-esque patio. Old livingroom and it’s windows were enlargened and openable glass doors were installed to extension’s patio facing facade, making light flow throughout the house. Slanted windows in new bedrooms are more a little smaller to create a picture frame kind of illusion from the inside at the same time giving a little more privacy.
All the old interior surfaces were replaced by the same surface materials as the extension to make a more uniform look. Light shade plywood panel was used alongside with matching floor material and white ceiling. Bathroom was designed to be more rustic compared to other spaces to give a sense of traditional Finnish summer cottage.