Discover the Allure of Hee House: A Stunning Hat-Shaped Cabin on Sweden's Wild Coast

Local practice Studio Ellsinger has topped a small holiday cabin on Sweden's west coast with a hat-shaped aluminium roof to "trigger curiosity" and offer protection from its wild surroundings.

Called Hee House after its location near the beach at Heestrand, the cabin was designed as a second home for a young family willing to experiment with a design that would maximize its small plot.

While measuring just seven metres by seven metres, the cabin is designed to "grow upwards" from its tiny footprint with a steep-pitched roof and gables clad in untreated aluminium sheeting to protect it from wind and rain.

The clients wanted a house that followed similar design principles to the founders' own house, Villa Ellsinger, which features an aluminium-clad structure that teeters above rocks on skinny stilts in southwest Sweden.

"Our house aimed to leave the ground and its surroundings as untouched as possible, as well as triggering curiosity," said studio co-founder Mikael Ellsinger. The resulting home has a tiny footprint where the spaces grow upwards, allowing for many surprises in a small building.

Inside, the cabin's seven-metre-high roof creates a spacious living area, divided by a loft that includes a children's sleeping area, a sofa bed, and a workspace that can be screened off with a large curtain. The open living and kitchen area features large windows overlooking the pines, with an oversized bookshelf acting as a room divider and support for the loft above.

The roof is divided into two parts, creating a hat-like appearance with a cantilevered canopy that provides protection from sun and rain. To avoid cluttering the ceiling with beams or bracing, the studio utilized a horizontal glue-laminated timber (glulam) frame that sits atop the exterior walls.

Hee House's interiors are clad in untreated pine, bringing warmth to the cabin, while contrasting red tiles cover the kitchen floors. All furniture, including sofas and tables, was custom-made for the cabin. The loft windows and front door feature circular openings, a maritime reference by the architect, reminiscent of glass prisms used in old sailing ships to spread light.

Studio Ellsinger, based in Gothenburg, was founded in 2010 by husband and wife duo Mikael and Fanny Ellsinger. Their first project was Villa Ellsinger, completed in 2017.

Other notable cabins featured in Dezeen include a group of off-grid structures in the Helsinki archipelago and a concrete dwelling with a steep gabled roof in Mexico.

Photography by Christopher Hunt