The island of Dalarö, in the Stockholm archipelago, has long been associated with escape. Its picturesque streets are dotted with the holiday homes of well-heeled Stockholm residents, and its prevailing historical architecture even includes a one-time retreat of Swedish writer and painter Johan August Strindberg. Close by, a new, contemporary architecture story unfolds: welcome to Dalarö House, the latest residential project by Seattle- and New York-based architecture studio Olson Kundig, and the practice’s first completion in Sweden.
Conceived as a summer retreat for an American couple who travel frequently to Sweden, Dalarö House sits on sloped terrain, strategically placed to act as a viewpoint to nature. It draws on its place, contemporary yet crafted to connect with the land, docks and water beyond. ‘The site had a lot of exposed stone, and we wanted the home to feel nestled into it and quiet to the surrounding landscape,’ says Tom Kundig, co-founder and the principal in charge of this particular project. ‘The nearby Strindberg cottage is known and valued in the community, and was kept and restored as a guest house [by the clients, who own it], so the new home needed to be in dialogue with that historic structure. The traditional red colour of the cottage, known as falun red, is used all over this region, and we also used that colour at the home’s entry to help tie the two buildings together.
