Villa Hovås

01/14

The defining conditions of Villa Hovås is an extraordinary view and a distinct idea of the organization of daily life.

The response is a two-story house where two contrasting plan layouts and an expressive play of volumes, openings and slatted facade screens creates a special relationship to the surrounding world.

Located in sloping terrain facing the sea and the sunset in Hovås, an affluent seaside suburb to the south of Gothenburg, the elongated volume is oriented in an east-western direction with a fully glazed side towards the sea to the west and a closed side towards the street to the east.

The bottom floor has a rational layout of bedrooms and utilities along a corridor ending in a voluminous living room spanning over two floors. Outside the glass façade, a terrace is bordered by a swimming pool. The communal space of the living room is continued onto the upper floor by the kitchen, where the view opens towards the sea with the pool in the foreground to create an impression of endless ocean. The rooms of the upper floor continues in an elaborate composition, creating a gradient of privacy ending in a sauna and an elevated terrace.

The sculpted volume and precise placement of openings creates a variety and richness in the relationship to daylight and the surrounding nature which is compounded by the filtering effect of the black wooden slats draping the façade.

Villa Hovås is envisaged to create the experience of ‘living in the view’ while letting its inhabitants keep control of privacy in their daily life.