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Seaside Home with 1 Clear and 1 Solid Volume

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Molle by the Sea is a 300sqm house designed by Elding Oscarson in the Swedish seaside town in Molle. The home is both exposed and private with the social zone on the main level completely clad in floor to ceiling glazings and the upper, private volume wrapped in a stunning display of oversized rough sawn Douglas-fir boards. The idea behind the design was to create a unique profile in keeping with the unique history of its location. Molle has a “sinful” past, beginning its settlement as a place “where men and women were allowed to enjoy each other’s company at the same beach”. This free spirited past was reflected in the original structures, all built in the early 20th century with an eccentric and experimental architecture.

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During the designing process, the architects wanted to bring some of that long forgotten experimentation back to the forefront in Molle and so they set about to create a nonconforming building that just happens to be at the same time beautiful and exceptionally functional. One of the most predominant eccentricities of the home is the choice to wrap the main level in glazings for a transparency that gives a floating effect to the upper volume wrapped in Douglas-fir. It is a study of contrasting elements working in harmony with each other.
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Molle by the Sea is a 3-storey structure with the lowest level below grade. The scale of the building in relation to its surrounding landscape has been kept as low as possible by keeping the roofline flat rather then gabled. The site itself adds personality to the home with its stone and brick wall – and even an old ice cellar built into the hill, making itself known by the exposed pitch on its roof.
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While the upper volume appears to be unsupported, it does in fact rest on the slender steel structures between each pane of glass on the lower volume.
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The home has 3 wings and 2 garden terraces and the transparent lower volume offers the homeowners an uninterrupted view into the surrounding gardens and the coastline beyond.
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The living, dining and kitchen zones are located on the main level while 3 bedrooms and a family lounge are upstairs, accessed by a spiral staircase located just behind the wood burning stove. Downstairs in the basement is a fourth bedroom and a sauna.
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All the furnishings are kept lightweight, allowing the views to permeate and dominate the inner zones. The furnishings are also carefully selected to offer a fresh and free spirited aesthetic to the social zone, all in keeping with Molle’s history.
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Elding Oscarson
Photography by Ake E:son Lindman

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