A Front-Yard Refuge in Black: Writing Studio in Oslo

The trapezoidal wood-frame construction stands in the couple’s front yard in a suburb of Oslo. A picture window opens to the northeast, where the lot slopes over a treed area down towards a railway line and a parking lot. In contrast, the south-facing access side juts up like a turret. Here, the architects have built a sleeping and reading tower cosified with sheepskins. This tower is reached by a stairway that doubles as a bookcase. A “railing” made of rope extended between steps and ceiling will prevent falls.  The rice-paper lampshade, brown carpeting and dark-brown stained spruce cladding create a somewhat gloomy, Norwegian/Japanese atmosphere inside. The architects deliberately chose a muted colour palette in order to distract writers as little as possible from their view outside – or into their work. This strategy is echoed in the two all-glass desks set before the picture window. Their crystalline coolness presents a sharp contrast to the surrounding materials. Because cable spaghetti would have ruined the minimalist spatial impression, all data and electric cables have been laid under the floor, leading to the writing stations via floor pods. The exterior cladding is also in spruce, treated here with a glossy black coating in a paint otherwise used in boat building.