A painted-brick fireplace separates areas for living and dining at this summer house designed by London-based architect Tina Bergman for a plot facing out towards the sea on Sweden's east coast.

Hus Nilsson is located on the Norrfjärden bay in the northern Swedish archipelago, and occupies a sloping site between the forest and the Baltic Sea.
Bergman designed the building to replace a 1950s cabin with basic amenities that had been used predominantly for brief visits as a place to warm up after fishing or skating on the frozen sea.

The owners wanted to install a larger property on the site that can be used year round and provides spaces suited to social gatherings, as well as more private areas for various members of the family to escape to. A key objective for the design was achieving a strong connection with the surrounding scenery, through the inclusion of both indoor and outdoor spaces that face the bay and the forest.

"The new house, a singular long and narrow building volume with a steep pitched roof and closed gables, spans across the site and aims to be the connection between the forest and the water," said Bergman.
"By its form and its placement on the site, it allows many of its rooms a view of the sea," the architect added. "The placement also affords privacy and prevents the house from feeling overlooked by its neighbours."

The internal layout features a central open-plan living space interrupted only by a freestanding fireplace...