Elding Oscarson transforms car park into art-filled family home

The perfect home can be found in unexpected places. As our cities become increasingly dense and urbanisation causes congestion and land prices to rise, creative approaches to home building are often the only way forward. Swedish architecture firm Elding Oscarson’s latest residential clients are a case in point.

Their new home, just outside Stockholm, sits on a large plot atop a submerged car park – admittedy not the typical site for a warm and refined family home. Indeed, it was by coincidence that this couple of art-loving clients came across a piece of land, while looking for a larger flat. The plot sits above an eight-car garage on the island of Lidingö, a short trip from the Swedish capital's centre.

‘This was not what they were looking for, yet it felt just right’, recall the architects. ‘Soon a dream of a house with an integrated gallery started to form’. The house incorporated part of the garage space, which required little redesign to become appropriate for domestic indoor living.

By cutting part of the roof slab, the architects connected the repurposed building with the new addition above ground; a sharp, white rectangular volume that now defines the site. Within it, a top level contains four bedrooms of various sizes and a ground floor is composed of a single, open room dotted with windows and artworks. The two levels are connected via a spiral feature staircase under a skylight.

The interior seems minimalist and stark, yet it doesn’t turn its back to its natural context and unusual setting. ‘With daylight and views from all four facades and a generous height under its tightly pitched plywood beams, this space is blending with the nature and trees surrounding it’, say the architects

INFORMATION

For more information visit the website of Elding Oscarson