ART, DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE
ADA House lives up to its name, with Art, Design and Architecture all playing equal roles in this stunning project. It’s a unique family home, incorporating a studio, gallery and home office, all built around a beautiful forest view. The innovative layout was inspired in part by a change to planning laws that arose partway through the project’s design.
A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL COLLABORATION
Marcus Vagnby and Karina Mencke met at the Danish Design School in 2003 and started collaborating as a couple shortly after.
In 2005, they took the plunge and founded their design business mencke&vagnby, which spans design, art and architecture.
They work collaboratively at their kitchen table and home office, especially during the early phases of a project. As Marcus explains “We work together mainly in the creative and sketch phase, then one of us manages the detailing, so it's a very collaborative process.” They each take the lead on different projects or phases, playing to their individual strengths. “Karina would focus more on direction, shape, and colour, while I’m generally more focussed on shaping and technical details.”
For their own home, ADA House in rural Denmark, they chose a plot very close to their existing home, a place on the edge of a forest that they knew well. The nature, the community and the sense of peace and privacy were all key reasons they fell in love with the plot.
REFLECTIONS ON THE LANDSCAPE
The couple loved living next to the forest, and wanted to maintain that connection in the new house. With a gentle slope, the design takes advantage of beautiful, far-reaching views of the surrounding countryside.
The house grew out from the site, the ground being folded up, and has a circular geometry in order to follow the sun throughout the day. In that sense, the house is connected to the time of day and becomes a sundial. To highlight the materiality of daylight, the house incorporates many round details that the sunlight can bend around.
Karina’s sculptural experience informs her approach to space and materials, with the artistic approach evident in the shapes, colour and overall aesthetic concept of the house’s interior and exterior.
Careful colour choices, such as the red shelving in the dining room that matches the colour of beech tree just outside the window, and spaces that evolve with light throughout the day and across the year, are other areas where the artistic spirit is present in the makeup of the house.
SPACE TO WORK, REST AND PLAY
As well as additional space for their young family to grow, the couple wanted to create a place where they could indulge their creative and artistic impulses, with the space for a permanent studio and exhibition space.
There is a home office situated conveniently close to the main living space and kitchen, but separate enough to create a gentle divide between the professional and personal parts of the couple’s lives.
VELUX flat roof windows transform the children’s bedrooms into bright, inviting play areas by day and provide opportunities for stargazing at night, while blackout blinds create darkness during the shorter summer nights.
LETTING THE LIGHT IN
Light and warmth were considered very early in the process, ensuring that the rooms’ primary functions could be supported by their design and positioning.
Light from VELUX flat roof windows shifts and moves throughout the day, creating pleasing optical effects. A roof window over the shower provides beautiful sunlight in the morning and views of the stars at night. Moonlight can be seen shining in as you pass the bathroom after dark.
Even the basement uses light wells so that the entire house can be used during the day without artificial lighting.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
Just before embarking on a 7-week campervan trip to New Zealand, Marcus and Karina found out that local planning rules had changed. Originally designed for two storeys, the area was rezoned to allow only one storey buildings. They had to completely redesign the house from scratch, 90% of which Marcus did while travelling in the tiny van.
The potential constraint turned into an opportunity for a creative rethink of the entire layout, incorporating the site’s elevation and features to create different views and atmospheres
