Villa Wormdal / Haug – Jensen & Skodvin

Villa Wormdal/Haug is located in Hasselhaugveien 28, Oslo, a quiet residential area composed by single family detached houses, it was designed by Jensen & Skodvin and the construction was finished in 1991.

The volumetry of the house results in large measure from the intersection between a 2 floors high box and another one, 1 floor high covered by a barrel vault. In plan, the boxes are rotated in relation to each other, opening up for the nice green area outside and closing up for the street, insuring just with this movement the character of the project, a sense of privacy and an alienation from the street and the urban life.

The vaulted volume is the more social area of the house, where kitchen, dining and living rooms melt to create an informal living environment with the fireplace on the highlight. The barrel vault is covered by a layer of apparent bricks applied in a simple way, emphasizing the beauty of its shape and the strategically located skylight. On the wooden’ panels covered  walls, large windows were open in different points  to the surrounding garden, and on the kitchen area a large glazed wall was built above the top cabinets allowing the sunlight to enter, but protecting this family space from the direct views from the street.

In the other volume are located all the private areas of the house: bedrooms, bathrooms and a home office. The 2 levels, plus the basement, are organized through a large staircase that works also as a distribution point and a storage area on the different levels. On the different spaces there’s windows strategically located providing views to the garden.

On the outside have been used natural apparent bricks and dark wood, with exception of the southern façade where a geometrical composition of wood columns and white wooden panels have been used.  Even though there’s seems to have been some problems during the construction between the architects, the clients and the construction responsible, the project manage to keep its integrity and its interesting geometrical composition.