After years of working at Oslo- and San Francisco–based Mork Ulnes Architects, Norwegian architect Erling Berg recently launched his own practice—and his first project is a cozy cabin with a minimalist Scandinavian aesthetic and a thoughtful eco-sensitive design.

Named after its location, the Kvitfjell Cabin sits on an elevated site that the clients—a family with a passion for skiing—carefully selected for its world-class ski slopes and phenomenal views of Jotunheimen National Park’s dramatic mountain range.

In addition to landscape views, the design brief called for a relatively compact build. “A big goal for this project was to reduce the size of the cabin’s footprint as much as possible to keep the construction costs down, while meeting programmatic needs for four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sauna, and a spacious and open living/dining room connected to a kitchen,” explains Berg.

To achieve a spacious feel in the open-plan living and dining room, Berg drew design inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of the “gallery,” a low-ceilinged entrance corridor that leads to a vaulted room, which feels taller and more open due to the architectural principle of compression and release.

Berg also looked to traditional boat design while planning the layout of the 1,560-square-foot home. “I stretched out the ‘ship’ of the main volume, letting the private rooms follow the gallery space—much like the lower deck layout of old sailboats—before stepping down to the shared living/dining/kitchen area that follows the sloped terrain,” says Berg.

The architect fit the bulk of the cabin’s program inside a narrow rectangular volume that stretches 85 feet from east to west. “The ensuite follows the same strategy, stretching north, but with windows facing east for the sunrise and west for the sunset,” he says.

Although large, insulated windows were instrumental to creating the cabin’s airy feel and framing views, their size would initially fail to comply with local permitting rules, which restrict window sizes to reduce bird deaths from glass collisions.Rather than dividing all the windows into smaller openings, Berg solved the issue by installing vertical wooden slats in front of the windows. These slats continue along the walls to create a cohesive appearance.

“The cabin is larger than a traditional Norwegian mountain cabin, with taller ceilings and larger windows and doors, but it still feels very cozy and intimate from the inside—this was important to maintain, and I am happy to say it worked,” says Berg.

Related Reading:

This Norwegian Ski Cabin Is Rough Around the Edges—but Refined Within

This Astounding Cabin in Norway Is a Patchwork of Different Materials

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Erling Berg / @erlingberg_

Builder/General Contractor: Fron Bygg AS

Structural Engineer: Mestergruppen Arkitekter

Cabinetry Design/Installation: Simon & Lucien

Also Appears In

A Family of Skiers Find Winter Bliss in a Cozy Cabin in Norway