Project Villa Furulund

Svein Lund’s own home at Furulund in Oslo, one of two L-shaped houses separated by a long thick wall arranged to form two atriums, sits on a plot where all the 20 trees were salvaged during construction. Often considered a particularly Norwegian house, spending time in the house makes Luis Callejas experience both theatricality and an atmosphere of Luis Barragán, Mexico, Morrocco, and the Mediterranean. It makes him ponder if Mexican and Norwegian architects share a kind of telluric sensibility: “At Villa Furulund, light is not omnipresent; compactness and legible constructive systems are intentionally rejected in favor of celebrating shadows, proximity to trees, and effortlessly knitted material continuity,” he writes in the essay “Chasing Shadows”. Villa Furulund was completed in 1998 and was awarded the Sundt Prize in 1999 and Houens Fond’s diploma in 2000.

Luis Callejas is partner in LCLA office and professor in landscape architecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.