Beautiful timber cabins replace a dilapidated home on Norway’s scenic coast

How do you build a home that optimizes views of a landscape as beautiful as Norway’s rugged west coast without spoiling the scenery? For architecture firm <a href="http://www.reverdrage.no/" target="_blank">Rever & Drage</a>, the answer was Hytte Årsund, a timber-clad <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/cabin" target="_blank">cabin</a> with full-height windows that frames strategic views of the outdoors and complements its surroundings. Built to replace an aging holiday home, the contemporary cabin uses recycled and natural materials to sit lightly on the land both visually and environmentally.

Set above a beautiful fjord, the contemporary cabins expands on the footprint of the original building, which was demolished save for a swimming pool and the recently built annex, which features a sloped roof and a wooden shingle facade.

The wooden shingles and sloped roofline are integrated into the new gabled building for visual connectivity.

To create contrast with that rustic facade, the architects also added modern, modular timber-clad rooms, raised on stilts, which extend the new building into the sloped landscape.

Full-height windows and other large openings optimize landscape views, from the sea on the one side to the forest on the other.

The interior is lined almost entirely in timber and is minimally furnished for a contemporary appearance.

The open-plan communal spaces include a kitchen, lounge, and dining area and are placed on one side of the home with access to large glazed openings and outdoor terraces.

The bedrooms are placed in the two individual modules that project outwards to the sea.

Hytte Årsund by Rever & Drage