Black House, Low-Cost Home in Copenhagen, Danish Residential Development, Architecture Images

Black House in Copenhagen

Home in Denmark – design by Sigurd Larsen, architect

18 Jul 2017

Sorte Hus

Architect: Sigurd Larsen

Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Sorte Hus

Sorte Hus is an innovative and affordable single-family residence in Copenhagen; it combines intelligent use of prefabricated materials to minimize costs, while utilizing a simple spatial composition to maximize room. The result, a saddle-roofed house, provides an answer to the growing demand of small family dwellings in the dense urban landscape of the Danish capital.

Transition from the public realm to the private sphere happens at the front door, located atypically in the exterior garden wall: Once entering, the first “room” encountered is in fact the garden – over 100 sq meters of enclosed, private greenery.

The structure itself consists of three interlocking materials: a self-heated floor of concrete, prefabricated wooden panels and double-glazed windows; the three essential materials form the shape of an extruded, slanted-roof house, -the maximum allowed volume determined by local building regulation.

The provided 80 sq meter home is divided directly in the middle: an imaginative east-west axis parts the home between shared and private spaces, each utilizing its provided 40 sq meter footprint to its fullest extent: The south-facing living room is constructed as a wide open space around a free-standing “island” which hides the household’s appliances, pipes and other utilities. Completed by wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling windows, the room opens up to the vast garden, which serves as an immediate extension of the interior space.As a contrary, the North-facing living quarters are constructed as large and private alcove retreats. Lastly, the slimmer west and east-facing facades are punctured by high-positioned windows, catching the first and light of dawn and the last rays of dusk.

Black House in Copenhagen – Building Information

Architect: Sigurd Larsen
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Year: 2014
Client: Family of 3 people
Size: 80 sqm
Cost: 1.500€/sqm

About the architect
Sigurd Larsen is a Berlin based Danish architect working within the fields of design, art and architecture. He has a master degree from The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture in Copenhagen and previously been employed at OMA-Rem Koolhaas in New York, MVRDV in Rotterdam, Cobe Architects in Copenhagen and Topotek1 in Berlin.
Sigurd Larsen Design & Architecture was founded in 2009.
Since 2016 Sigurd Larsen is Professor at BAU International University in Berlin where building design and visual communication is explored through teaching and research.
The work of the design studio combines the aesthetics of high quality materials with concepts focusing on functionality in complex spaces.