townhouse elding oscarson

The plan of this townhouse is not too atypical – a spacious sequence of lofted rooms to maximize the open feeling from one floor to the next, large and frequent window openings, a bedroom loft and a small roof garden. In context, however, this townhouse property is a massive minimalist white tower set starkly against its more conventional architectural adjacencies.

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Red-roofed, shingled homes sit on other side of the structure – their exterior size, shape and stylistic similarities reinforcing the strange and out-of-place appearance of the building in their midst.

townhouse elding oscarson courtyard

Sharp corners, flush detailing, blank white walls and large geometric openings make the asymmetrical new development look like an alien in the landscape – almost like a work (or museum) of art dropped from the sky.

The interior three-floor plan of this home by Elding Oscarson (photos by is Ake Eson Lindman) similarly modern, featuring wire mesh railings, open-tread steel stairs and walkways and only a touch of wood here and there to soften the metal-and-white aesthetic.

townhouse elding oscarson interior
townhouse elding oscarson - street view

Three simple horizontal floor slabs project out into the center of the volume to create platforms for the rooms on each level.

The garden areas on both the ground and rooftop levels serve to soften the experience somewhat, however, through more casual layouts, soft pebbles and light greenery – curiously private and small spaces in an otherwise open set of plans.

townhouse elding oscarson kitchen
townhouse elding oscarson backyard

“The building relates to the surroundings in scale, proportion and in the way it adds to the established rythm of low and tall buldings along the street. A perpendicularly inserted crow-step gabled house a few lots down the street is a particularly important ancestor.”

“Yet, our aim is to create a razor sharp contrast, to express inherent clarity, but more importantly to highlight the beauty of the surroundings. Our clients, a male couple that love art and run a café in a bigger city closeby, plan to settle here for good. They see the potential in this small town, beyond its current economic and social problems.”