a jet-black cabin The building, called Atelier Nip, is built on the old foundations of a sheep shed destroyed by the architectural practice studio aunty in the far west iceland,
Named after the Niupurhirna mountain behind it, the cabin houses an artist’s studio and guesthouse on the vast Breidafjörður Fjord, a three-hour drive from Reykjavik.
Atelier NYP is the latest addition to a group of former farm buildings on a remote site in Skarstrand that have been converted into a home, guesthouse and cultural spaces. studio auntyWhich has offices in London and Oslo.
The cabin is intentionally designed with simple volumes to fit in with the other farm-style buildings on campus. Its pitched roof is off-centre, hinting at the shape of one of the region’s major mountain peaks.
One of the key parts of the client’s brief was to re-use the remains of the existing sheep shed structure on the site to reduce the amount of concrete required in the new building.
“We approached this project from a sustainability perspective and to maximize existing resources, both physical and cultural,” said Sigrun Sumarliadóttir, co-founder of Studio Bua.
He added, “We repurposed the concrete foundations from an existing sheep shed which had blown away in extremely bad weather, which is not unusual in this part of the world.”
Inside Atelier NYP, there are two independent units within one space. The mountain-facing side is home to a kitchen and dining area, with a workplace on the ground floor, and accommodation for the artist client and her husband on the first floor, which also includes a small office space.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, there is a mini apartment with a double-height bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette to rent out to visitors. Next to the cabin is a dark green steel greenhouse, designed by Studio Bua as part of a previous project.
“We are quite proud of how much we fit into this small building, and it feels huge inside,” Sumarliadóttir said. “We also liked the original look, it almost looked like a diagram of a building from the outside.”
According to Studio Bua, the client wanted the guesthouse to be summer ready, so to speed up construction, the structure was built using cross-laminated timber (CLT), which was left open on the inside to create a warm finish. Has been given.
Its exterior is covered with corrugated steel to protect it from harsh weather. The black finish of the steel was chosen to distinguish it from its neighbors and emphasize the building’s simple shape.
In addition to the concrete foundation, Studio Bua also rescued other objects for Atelier NYP, including an old staircase from a historic building in Reykjavik and kitchen units from a fifties apartment block.
“We were working in a rural area where innovation and new ways of building are not very visible,” Sumarliadóttir explained. “The more common way to do things is to demolish old structures and import prefab buildings in complex materials.”
He said, “On this site we have renovated a number of buildings to create a cultural center that is accessible to everyone in the area and so influences people to reuse and reevaluate the existing building mass and its history.” Can do.”
Other cabins recently featured on Dezeen include White-painted retreat in Quebec with matching metal roof and with one Hat-shaped aluminum roof in Sweden,
Photography is courtesy of Studio Bua.
