An architect’s retreat on Gotland

In the 1920s, Anders Nordlund’s grandparents bought a 100-year-old, simple stone house with a small barn building on Hamnvägen, the main road that leads to the harbour in Burgsvik, a village in southern Gotland. The landscape is typical of the island with its limestone formations and small farms, and Anders’s maternal grandfather worked as a stonemason and kept pigs, chickens and sometimes a calf in the barn. Anders’s mother and aunt grew up here, and ever since Anders Nordlund was a boy, he has enjoyed the long summers in the house on Gotland.

The original house was renovated and extended several times, but there were always recurring problems with moisture, and the family therefore decided to demolish the old house and build a new one.

There are several small stoneworkers’ cottages from the 1900s on Hamnvägen, which are traditionally arranged with a front door in the middle, a room on either side and an attic with two rooms. It was therefore quite natural that the new house should mirror local traditions and architecture, but be built using modern techniques and materials.

The white facades are broken by a clear marking and framing of the entrances with local Hoburg limestone on both sides of the doors and the pale grey-blue colour that is used for both the windows and roof. Hoburg limestone from the limestone factory Gotlands Kalkstensfabrik, which lies in Burgsvik only 400 metres from the house, has also been used for the three patios. The patios are oriented towards three points of the compass, so even when it is windy on Gotland, the Nordlands can always find shelter and sun from morning to evening in the garden.

Hoburg limestone is also featured inside – for the floor in the hallway, for the windowsills and in the bathrooms. The stone has grey-blue and pink tones, with fossils that make each piece unique.

The pink tones are repeated in the building’s wooden floors, which are made of ash, a wood type that is characteristic of southern Gotland. The floors form a beautiful and warm base, while the grooved boarding and pale colours create a rustic, tactile look with a general feeling of lightness.

The kitchen is from uno form’s Classic collection to perfectly match the bright and natural interiors. The kitchen was designed by Arne Munch in 1968 based on the idea that a kitchen should be a beautiful piece of furniture in the room. The slats in solid white ash, the classic front frames and the finger-jointed wooden drawers are characteristic of the design, and some of the craftsmanship details which Anders Nordlund particularly likes.

The creamy white Perla Venata quartzite worktop accentuates the kitchen’s light and Nordic look. 

The kitchen was designed in a collaboration between Anders Nordlund and Sofie Caesar from the uno form studio in Gothenburg.

Anders and Susanne Nordlund have chosen high-quality furniture and lighting by Swedish and Danish designers. The dining chairs are a traditional Swedish design, created by the Gotland cabinetmaker Rune Larsson. The dining table is from Norrgavel and produced in Lammhult in southern Sweden, while the kitchen lamps are from the Danish design company Muuto’s Ambit collection.

Between the patio doors, a 15^th or 16^th-century relief sculpture from Venice is embedded in the wall. The sculpture depicts a lion’s head, the symbol of the patron saint of Venice, Saint Mark.

Sofie Caesar has also helped with the interior design of the bathroom, which is from uno form’s Avantgarde collection in oak. Hoburg limestone has been used as a worktop, and contributes to the beautiful sense of continuity throughout the  house.

“We look forward to spending many summers here together with our children, grandchildren and friends,” says Anders Nordlund, who always relishes being reunited with the flowering roadsides, the old stone walls and Gotland’s beautiful coastline.