The Hat House is a retreat straight out of a Swedish fairy tale

The Hat House, Tina Bergman Architects' latest residential project, is an idyllic forest retreat seemingly coming straight out of the land of fairy tales, and tucked away in the woods near Tänndalen in west Sweden. The London-based, Sweden-born architect conceived this compact piece of cabin architecture for a family of five, their dog, and their many occasional guests. 

The Hat House by Tina Bergman Architects

The project had to follow local planning regulations, which stipulated that nothing above 100 sq m can be built in the region – therefore, it was doubly important for the team to find the perfect spot to place the cabin, in order to maximise views, sense of space inside, and minimise its impact to the environment. 'I travelled to the site with my clients on an unusually warm weekend at the end of May: met with that intense green of newly sprung birch leaves and a near complete silence, our aim was to find a spot to place the building,' Bergman writes. 'We found it soon: a naturally formed clearing, withdrawn from the forest road, with views to the mountains and a lake to the south and west, and with yellow orchids growing in the east.'

Made out of timber, the retreat resembles in form the home from a Swedish fairy tale about three children living in a hat – lending the house its name. At the same time, the structure takes its material cues from its natural environment, featuring a spruce floor, beautifully weathered Kebony pine heart cladding, with a glulam and softwood overall framework construction. Large windows further perfect this synergy between land and architecture. 'It is a house intensely following the seasons of the year; the blue faint light of midwinter, the bursting green of new summer, the misty yellows of the autumn mountains,' said Bergman. 

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