Architecture studio Bornstein Lyckefors chose an unusual shade of green for the exterior of Granholmen, a humble cabin on the Swedish island of Kallaxön.

Although many of Sweden's wooden cottages and barns are famously painted in a distinctive shade of red, there is no history of that colour being used on the islands of the Luleå archipelago in northern Sweden.
Bornstein Lyckefors instead chose a shade that it felt would give the building its own identity, but which would also blend well with the conifers, deciduous trees and grasses that surround it.

"We wanted to give the new building its own character, inferior but still with a clear ascendance to the old," explained studio co-founder Andreas Lyckefors.
"Given the rich green gradient of the site, we wanted the house to blend in naturally with the colours of nature," he told Dezeen.
The island of Kallaxön is completely undeveloped, with no roads and no running water, but the client's family has had a weekend home there for five generations. His great great grandfather, who ran a veneer factory in the city, used to deliver to the mine and accepted a plot of land as payment.

The old summerhouse is very basic, with no toilet or shower facilities, so can only be used in summer. The aim of the new building is to allow the family to also enjoy vacations in the coldest months of the year, when the water freezes over.

The cabin is built from pine, with a traditional gable end profile. All of the exteri...