The Eco House
Norrkoping, Sweden · 1992
A striking precedent for brick masonry facades featuring a segmental arched roofline and a single punched window, demonstrating Sverre Fehn's poetic approach to material weight and Nordic light.
- What we like about this project
- The brick courses follow a soldier course arch pattern to define the curved roof edge.
Materials
- red-brick
- mortar
- wood
- glass
Visual identifiers
- segmental-arch-roofline
- red-brick-masonry
- square-window
- brick-chimney
- snow-capped-wall
Style tags
- nordic-modernism
- regionalism
- poetic-rationalism
Visual tags
- nordic-modernism
- brick-architecture
- arched-roof
- winter-landscape
- residential
- Geometry
- A flat brick gable wall terminates in a gentle segmental arch. A single square window is centered under the arch, framed in wood. A rectangular brick chimney stack rises on the right shoulder.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing brick masonry wall.
- Structural guess
- Load-bearing brick masonry with timber roof framing.
- Spatial scale
- Single-story residential scale, emphasized by the domestic size of the central square window.
- Lighting
- Low-angle, crisp winter sunlight casting a sharp diagonal shadow across the lower half of the brick facade.
- Atmosphere
- Crisp, quiet, and grounded, where the warmth of red brick contrasts with the cold snow and blue sky.
- Environmental context
- Set in a snowy, undulating Nordic landscape with forested hills and a bright blue sky.
- Spatial experience
- The facade acts as a heavy, protective screen wall, framing a private domestic realm behind it while presenting a solid, defensive face to the cold landscape.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical arch balanced by an asymmetrical chimney stack on the right.
- Style reading
- Nordic Modernism with regionalist material expression
- Program
- Single-family residential villa
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- red-brick, mortar, wood, glass
- Visual identifiers
- segmental-arch-roofline, red-brick-masonry, square-window, brick-chimney, snow-capped-wall
- Style tags
- nordic-modernism, regionalism, poetic-rationalism
- Visual tags
- nordic-modernism, brick-architecture, arched-roof, winter-landscape, residential
- Geometry
- A flat brick gable wall terminates in a gentle segmental arch. A single square window is centered under the arch, framed in wood. A rectangular brick chimney stack rises on the right shoulder.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing brick masonry wall.
- Structural guess
- Load-bearing brick masonry with timber roof framing.
- Spatial scale
- Single-story residential scale, emphasized by the domestic size of the central square window.
- Lighting
- Low-angle, crisp winter sunlight casting a sharp diagonal shadow across the lower half of the brick facade.
- Atmosphere
- Crisp, quiet, and grounded, where the warmth of red brick contrasts with the cold snow and blue sky.
- Environmental context
- Set in a snowy, undulating Nordic landscape with forested hills and a bright blue sky.
- Spatial experience
- The facade acts as a heavy, protective screen wall, framing a private domestic realm behind it while presenting a solid, defensive face to the cold landscape.
- Composition rhythm
- Symmetrical arch balanced by an asymmetrical chimney stack on the right.
- Style reading
- Nordic Modernism with regionalist material expression
- Program
- Single-family residential villa
- Perspective
- Exterior Facade
- Discipline
- architecture