FjordhusFjordhusFjordhus

The family did not want the slope cut. So the house sits on a plinth of board-marked concrete that follows the fall of the ground — 380 mm at the west end, 1 640 mm at the east — and the floor above it is one level. The orchard terraces run under the east end and out the other side.

We visited in November, in February and in June before we drew anything. The November visit decided the roof. Rain here does not fall so much as travel, and a single plane pointed at the water sheds it in the direction it is already going.

The structure is 120 mm cross-laminated spruce, left visible in the corridor and the bedrooms, lined with oiled oak where people sit. The external wall is 420 mm deep: 22 mm heartwood pine on 36 × 48 battens, a taped wind barrier, 250 mm wood fibre, then the CLT.

The pine is untreated. It arrived the colour of butter and by the second winter it had gone the colour of the rock behind it. The client asked us twice whether this was a mistake. It was not.

The roof rises from 3 600 mm at the west to 6 850 mm at the east. That puts the tall glass where the fjord is and keeps the low eaves over the entrance, where the weather comes from. There are no downlights anywhere in the house.

The living room is lined in oiled European oak from the floor to the underside of the CLT. It is the only colour in the building, and the reason the fjord looks as cold as it actually is.