Architecture & Design - This imaginative little house is located in an allotment garden just twenty minutes by bike from central Copenhagen. The mint-green cottage features a lantern-style roof highlighted by a cupola. An eclectic collection of windows adds to its playful appearance.
Allotment gardens were first established in Denmark in the late 1800s to give city-dwellers a place to grow their own vegetables. The gardeners built tool sheds which, over time, they expanded into huts so that their families could spend weekends and summer vacations there.
However as the city grew, the allotment gardens were often developed and the gardeners would have to relocate to new allotments, either moving their huts or dismantling them and rebuilding. As a consequence, allotment huts were typically simple structures built with whatever material was at hand.
In recent decades though, Danish legislators have passed laws protecting allotment gardens, and longer-term leases have given the gardeners more security of tenure. The result has been larger and more elaborate allotment huts, almost rivaling the traditional Danish summerhouse. This fanciful little cottage seems to be taking that trend to an extreme.
At 60 m2 (645 ft2), it is larger than the allotment huts we have previously looked at in Germany and the Netherlands. The cottage’s floor plan takes the form of an octagon with a small wing extending in each compass direction. One of those wings is the entry hall, and another contains the bathroom and a tiny bedroom. The other two are alcoves connected to the central living/dining/kitchen space, with one of those alcoves being used as a bed nook. A small loft over the bed nook provides a third sleeping space.
A wood terrace and brick patio extend the living space into the surrounding garden of fruit trees, flower beds and planter boxes.
The cottage is currently for sale. Please see Lilienhoff for details. Enjoy the photo tour!
Source : smallhousebliss.com
