Gammel Damm

Gammel Damm is a modern family retreat inspired by the client’s rugged, multi-generational cabin located near Morgedal, Norway.

To provide privacy, the house is located at the interior of the site among several large spruce trees, scattered aspen groves, and scrub oaks; native sage is abundant on the gently sloping site. The owners wished to preserve the existing vegetation and bring it close to the house so they might live immersed in nature, absent lawns or other introduced landscaping.

Pulling apart individual program elements allowed them to adapt to the sloping topography and minimized site disturbance. Unifying the elements is a singular sloped roof that parallels the natural grade and reinforces the building’s relationship to the land. The landscape flows beneath the roof and between building elements, creating covered outdoor spaces and framing views to nature. At these locations, interior spaces extend into the landscape, layering together the experience of site and architecture.

In a final homage to the family’s Norwegian cabin and the traditions built there, a “destination sauna” rests at the upper end of the compound, accessed via a covered rough-laid stone pathway. Like the house to which it belongs, it defers to its surroundings at every turn.