The houses are located in an established residential area with villages of varying style, size and age. The terrain has a 6-7 meter drop through the site, and characterized by established pine trees. Due to the houseslocation along southern and northern site boundaries, a spacious common courtyard between the buildings appears, leading to a common garden area. The garden dropstowardseast, and is naturally tied to the lower part of the plot. This site approach maintains important views lines from the access road, and for the neighbors on the west.
Thenorthern house lies in sloping terrain that allows for a more vertical design.
It is pulled into the rising terrain, so that the proportion of exposed façades is reduced, allowing for an extra retracted story.
The southern volume is situated in flatter terrain and is therefore given horizontal impression.
In principle, both buildings consist of a dark concrete base that provides strong terrain anchoring.Over the concrete base lies a light and playful form with an organic expression. In one case the organic volume is generated through the vertical plane, while the other is generated through the horizontal plane.
Both homes have the social zone (living room and kitchen) on the second floor, with direct access to sheltered and warm outdoor space. This solution provides optimal view towards downtown Oslo from all primary rooms. The more private part of the house, bedroom, office, billiard room, fitness room etc is located on the lower floors.
