Havhuset

Havhuset sits on a granite skerry at the outer edge of Hvaler, where the last pines give way to bare rock and open sea.

There is no road to the island. A neighbour’s red boathouse and a ring of iron mooring pins were the only marks on the site. The southwest wind arrives straight off the Skagerrak, so we placed the studio in the lee of a rock shoulder and kept it low on the weather side.

Ingrid Hval wanted one room to write in, one window to look out of, and nothing that needed looking after.

The brief fitted on a postcard: a desk, a bed for long weeks, a stove and a door that closes properly in a storm. We added a covered porch for wet boots and a slot of glass above the desk that shows only sky.

A single tilted roof lifts toward the water and drops toward the wind.

Every piece arrived by boat and was carried up the rock by hand, which set the size of each beam and panel. The frame is spruce, clad in whitewashed boards that will slowly silver. Inside, the desk is built into the wall beneath the one large window, cut toward the open sea.