Heatherhill Beach House: A Contemporary Residence in Jutland

The long days of Scandinavian summers mean the owners of Heatherhill Beach House, this new holiday home on the Danish waterfront, have much to look forward to. Designed by Norm Architects, a Copenhagen-based firm, Heatherhill sits amidst grassy dunes on the Kattegat strait.

To minimize disruption to the landscape, Norm Architects used the footprint of a preexisting house for this new one. Conceived as two interlocking structures, the house adapts the vernacular form of a pitched-roof barn, but by linking them and sliding them off centre, the design creates a sense of dynamism. Landscape design by Emilie Bausager creates a fluid cohesion across the architecture and its context.

For the interiors, Norm Architects drew from a material palette that references both the traditions of Danish midcentury residential modernism such as brick floors and from the house’s environmental context, with pale lye-treated Douglas fir-lined walls, floors, and ceilings. The design discreetly integrates storage, reducing clutter and allowing the focus to be on the materials, the views, and the light of the Danish seaside. “A light tone-in-tone material palette creates an airy, open feel that bathes the interior in a soft, diffused light,” says Sofie Bak of Norm Architects. “This way of amplifying natural light and thus highlighting the transitions of the day in a subtle manner has been a key design driver in the project.”

A travertine kitchen island provides a visual and material interior anchor point. Norm Architects used travertine for the nearby hearth too, reinforcing the sense of being at the centre of the house. The interior configuration balances a sense of interiority with exterior views, as windows frame foreground views of grassy dunes and distant ones of the Kattegat waters. Bak explains that “long views extend through the house, welcoming you with a glimpse of the breathtaking scenery beyond.”

Over time, the house will blend into its surroundings. The cedar cladding will patinate with exposure to sun and salty breezes, and the green roof will continue to grow in, concealing the house in the grassy landscape.

Photography by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.