In the design for a new single-family house in Kongsgil, Tórshavn, the challenge was to get the most out of the building site’s stunning view of the entire city and the Atlantic Ocean.

Being a part of a new small neighborhood lying up on a mountainside in Tórshavn, the building site had an initial 180-degrees view of the city. The challenge however was the neighboring house, which was to be built on the building site in front and which would take up a big part of the view breaking it up in to an eastern and a western viewpoint.

As a reaction to this the house is designed as a narrow two-story line stretching across the site in order to reach both the eastern and the western viewpoint on each side of the neighboring house. To further optimize the eastern view the two stories are split and the upper story given an angle that optimizes the view and creates a balcony on top of the lower floor.

With a height difference on site of more than 3 meters, the mountainside’s steep terrain is used to mold the surrounding landscape in to meeting the different level of the house. What appears to be the upper floor on one side of the house becomes ground floor on the other creating a close connection between landscape and house.