The Uppgrenna Nature House blends contemporary design with traditional Swedish architecture. The building’s gabled shape, simple doors, and earthy red-painted cladding on the structure’s lower half evoke Swedish barns and houses, while the insulating glass shell atop and timber-lined interior design are of a more modern aesthetic. The upper Mediterranean climate greenhouse occupies nearly half the building footprint and contains large planting beds for fruits, flowers, and vegetables; a small pond with a waterfall; and a variety of citrus trees. The lower levels house the dining and meeting facilities, spa treatment rooms, and guest bedrooms.
“The vision is to make a self-sustainable house that produces food, instead of waste,” said lead architect Frederik Olson. “Living in a greenhouse encourages a sustainable and non-toxic lifestyle.” The Uppgrenna Nature House is not hooked up to a sewer system and reuses all of its graywater and blackwater as irrigation in a closed-loop system. Built primarily out of wood and other zero-VOC materials, the well-insulated building maintains a low energy footprint aided by passive solar and natural ventilation.
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The Uppgrenna Nature House opened in June 2015 and is available for event rentals, spa visits, and as short-term accommodation. The kitchen serves vegetarian fare using produce grown in the greenhouse. The project was created in collaboration with Greenhouse Living, a consultancy group that works on developing eco-friendly Naturhus projects.
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