Ljunghusen House: A Dark Timber Cabin in Sweden

On the southern Swedish coast, in the pine forest of Ljunghusen, a dark timber house sits between trees and rhododendrons. Ljunghusen House, designed by KFA Arkitekter, is a Scandinavian summer house clad in dark stained vertical timber, with a double-height loggia at the upper level that opens to the forest through sliding slatted screens. The house is the latest in a long Swedish tradition of forest cabins: gable roofs, dark timber, and a quiet relationship with the trees.

The brief was modest: a family summer house with a separate guest building and garage on a wooded plot. KFA Arkitekter's response is a two-storey main volume with a steep gable roof, paired with a low ancillary building. The two volumes sit in the forest as if they had grown there. The dark timber cladding disappears into the shadows. The vertical lines of the cladding echo the pine trunks. The rhododendrons in the garden are the only colour.

The Forest: Pines and Rhododendrons

The site photographs are the best introduction. The house is visible only in fragments through the dense pine forest. The dark timber cladding makes the building recede behind the trees. The rhododendrons in the garden are in full flower (red, pink, and white), providing the seasonal colour against the otherwise muted palette of green pines and dark wood. A bird house mounted on one of the pine trunks sits at eye level with the cantilevered upper floor of the house. The architecture and the forest are continuous.

The Loggia: Slatted Screens and Forest Views

The loggia is the project's most distinctive interior space. The double-height upper room is enclosed by glass on three sides, with sliding slatted timber screens that can be moved to filter sun, frame views, or close the room against weather. The walls and floor are dark timber, matching the exterior cladding. The view through the glass and the slats frames the pine canopy. A figure adjusts the screen, showing how the panels work. This is a Scandinavian summer room: open enough to bring the forest in, sheltered enough to use in cool weather.

Garden Facades and Cantilever

From the garden, the house presents two different conditions. On one side, the dark timber upper volume cantilevers over a white concrete base with oak doors. On another side, the vertical cladding is uninterrupted, with three vertical windows cut into the gable end. The cantilever creates a covered terrace at ground level. The white concrete base anchors the dark timber above. The house is asymmetrical in plan but consistent in material. Every facade is dark timber, every joint is the same vertical board, and every roof is the same gable.

Side and Garage

The site plan includes a separate ancillary building (garage and guest accommodation) at a lower height than the main house. From the side, the two volumes read as a small Scandinavian farmstead: the tall main house and the long low outbuilding, both clad in the same dark vertical timber. The relationship between them creates a sheltered courtyard between the two volumes.

Drawings

The site plan shows the dense forest setting with the house and garage occupying small clearings. The floor plans show the main house with kitchen, living, dining, and bedrooms on the ground floor, the loggia and additional rooms above. The ancillary building contains the garage and guest accommodation. The elevations show how the two-storey gable house and the low outbuilding sit together in the landscape. The section reveals the double-height loggia and the relationship between the building and a single pine tree.

Why This Project Matters

Scandinavian summer houses are one of the most refined typologies in residential architecture. Centuries of tradition have produced a clear set of moves: gable roofs, dark stained timber, careful tree placement, and rooms that open to the forest. KFA Arkitekter did not invent anything new with Ljunghusen House. They executed the type with precision: the right cladding, the right window proportions, the right relationship to the pines, and the right loggia. The slatted screens are the one contemporary detail, allowing the upper room to be opened or closed to weather and view.

If you are designing a forest house, a summer cabin, or any project where the relationship to surrounding trees matters more than self-expression, Ljunghusen House is worth studying for how dark timber cladding, gable roofs, and a single screened room can create a building that belongs to its forest.

About the Studio

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Project credits: Ljunghusen House by KFA Arkitekter. Ljunghusen, Sweden.