THE MOST STUNNING HOUSE IN THE FAEROE ISLANDS

Michelin restaurant KOKS in the Faeroe Islands lies in the midst of wild nature. We had an exclusive visit with the restaurant manager, who lives in his grandparents’ house, a home that also boasts a spellbinding view and is at one with the landscape. A conversion and an extension have turned the house into a home that is both traditional Faroese and state-of-the-art.

VELBASTAÐ overlooking the islands of Koltur and Hestur. THE PENDANT SUNSET over the dining table is from Torremato. The dining table Rock Table is designed by Jean Marie Massaud for MDF Italia. The chairs are called No. 62 and are designed by Niels Otto Møller. The handle-free kitchen made of smoked oak from Eggersmann is designed by Pascale Nemery. Appliances from Miele. The table displays small serving bowls filled with heather and flowers from outside. The bowls are used for serving at KOKS. Designed and made by ceramist Gurid Poulsen.

THE FIREPLACE INSERT, Visio 3, is from Rais. The chimney is built of bricks and covered with coloured plaster. The black-iron firewood shelf and window is custom-made for the house by Pascale Nemery. Johannes left the iron outside in the rain to rust until it had attained the desired patina. ANNA AND JÓHANNES outside the extension designed by architect Eydun Eliasen. THE HANDLE-FREE KITCHEN made of smoked oak from Eggersmann is designed by Pascale Nemery. The living-room floor is made of brushed oak with planed furrows. The work area in the kitchen features the same Platinum tiles as on the ground floor and the outdoor terraces.

Johannes Jensen greets us in the gazebo in the lush garden by Kinabakken on the highway in Torshavn. A cutter-looking church spire glimpsed in the background proves to be an actual sailboat heading east and creating a near-perfect complement to the Japanese touch seen in the garden. Johannes points to the underground spring, which has been drilled 182 metres down to provide the house with ground source heating. The effort paid off. We have no oil bills, only a modest electricity bill of DKK 1,300 and a spring that runs merrily by the garden path.

“Have a glass, it has the perfect temperature and ph value,” says Johannes, who is trained in the hotel industry.

He and Anna Dahl-olsen have been living in this small functionalist-inspired house from 1938 for two and an half years, their having acquired it in 2007 and since undertaken substantial renovations. Always with a gentle hand and respect for the family, which has close ties to the house.

They are both 56 years old. He is a hotel and restaurant manager and works professionally to ensure food waste in the industry is better utilised. She is an executive secretary, and together they have three sons aged 25, 30 and 33.

“It was a challenge moving from the home where our children grew up and into this home. But now that it’s just the two of us, we enjoy having less space. Our home is wonderfully private and still close to the city centre,” says Anna, who describes the house as functional, well-planned and easy to maintain.

“We’re close to nature and enjoy good lighting from all sides. I love the rain drumming against the window as much as I love the good lighting. And I’m surprised by how much the church bells mean to me. I had no idea,” says Anna inside the dark and somewhat masculine kitchen.

Johannes’ mother was born in the original kitchen of the house, and at age 90 after long, full lives his grandparents passed away within hours of each other in their respective rooms downstairs. The strong historical ties are clear from the moment you stand in front of the original staircase by the entrance.

“We are outside and yet inside in a visible and tactile manner,” says Johannes, pointing to the tiles that have been used both inside and outside. And the house has eight outer doors and four inner doors.

Architect Eyðun Eliasen, owner of the drawing office EYA in Torshavn, was tasked with renovating and transforming the original house, made of concrete, and uniting it with an extension. The house and the outdoor areas are encircled by trees that offer protection against the wind and the gaze of people using the road or strolling through the park neighbouring the property.

“The property was subject to special building regulations, which did create some challenges. Our goal was also to retain as much of the architectural integrity of the original house as possible”.

Together with the couple, the architect discussed and detailed their wishes for rooms, the number of rooms, their function, use and character, building regulations and climatic conditions, regarding which the architect has emphasised sun, wind, noise and views.

“The challenge was to design the extension and get it to merge with the house, both interiorly and exteriorly,” explains Eliasen.

“Our greatest challenge was establishing a basement complete with storage, washing machine and technical systems. Naturally, digging so deep is a pretty extensive, laborious task when you have an existing house to take into account as well as a fairly limited distance to the cadastral line. However, luckily we managed it.”

With the conversion and the extension, the couple has ample opportunity to sense and feel the daily, quiet richness that exists in the meeting between architecture and its context, between building and nature, as professionally observed by the architect Eliasen.

“When you experience the house as it interacts with the day’s shifting light and the changing scenery of the seasons, it becomes clear that the renovation has enhanced the interplay between the indoors and outdoors. This interplay is further accentuated by the large roof terrace on the extension, which leads from the open-plan kitchen to provide easy access to a large, sheltered outdoor space that lengthens the kitchen space, and by the original windows now enlarged to reach to the floor, all of which make the house seem much bigger,” says Eliasen, who is also pleased with the juxtaposition of the old and the new.

“The design, idiom and choice of material tell you that this is something old to which something has been added. The rounded corners of the extension might signal something retro but without referencing a specific decade,” says Eliasen.

Danish/french interior designer, Pascale Nemery, has done many assignments in the Faeroe Islands.

“I was first invited to the Faeroe Islands in 2004, and have since lost my heart to them,” says Pascale.

Among the many exciting Faeroese interior design jobs she has been engaged in are KOKS, The Tarv, Etika, Mikkeller, No. 12, Hotel Tórshavn, Ebernezer, Kongshøll in the new university, which used to be a salt silo, and Hotel Føroyar’s new extension.

“One of Johannes’ and Anna’s primary requirements for their new home was their desire to live in a practical and functional house having the greatest possible contact with nature,” explains Pascale, continuing:

“The materials had to match their wishes for a range of modern, technical custom solutions and the raw, outdoor settings on the property, which is unusually densely wooded by Faeroese standards. At the same time, the house of Johannes’s grandparents had to be designed so as to preserve and enhance its original soul and history. The house had to be an interpretation of a modern Faeroese home and a peaceful base in a busy life.

THE FAEROESE green nature, where both geese and sheep roam and graze the islands without being fenced in. THE YALE SOFA in the TV room is designed by MDF Italia. The Bowl Table is from Mater. The painting above the sofa is by Poul Horsdal and is titled Sol. WITH A VIEW OF TORSHAVN, the couple can enjoy the vista from the Rén sofa and the lounge chairs designed by Space Copenhagen for Stella Works. The coffee table is from Gubi and the pendant from Umage.

THE WARDROBE is custom-made in black flat steel with concealed mounting in the wall and ceiling. The seating below is made of smoked oak from Eggersmann and also serves as storage. The classic white Estremoz marble plate beautifully contrasts with the raw concrete and granite block walls. A custom-designed sliding door with black iron moulding and glass establishes the entrance to the office. THE SAME TILE used inside the house is used on the outdoor passages to blur the transition between the outdoors and indoors. The firewood walls are both functional and decorative. THE COUPLE CHOSE TO MAINTAIN THE GRANDPARENTS’ ORIGINAL STAIRCASE leading to the first floor, as it holds many stories and memories from Johannes’ childhood. The shoehorn is made from ram horn and has always been in this spot – even when Johannes’ grandparents used it. THE BENCH is made by the carpentry Woodliving from old slate pallets of ash and water pipes. The shelves are remnants of the wooden panels on the first-floor ceiling. The panels have been made of recycled wood from old cabins in Austria. The raw walls have been stripped and left bare, without artifice.

THE ORIGINAL WALLS of Faeroese granite blocks continue from the main entrance to the office, which is also used as an extra guest room. Their structure is accentuated by the indirect lighting that flows across them. A custommade sliding door with black iron moulding and glass can be used to divide the two rooms when needed. For more privacy, a curtain can be pulled in front of the door. The distinctive walls are from the original house, ‘fjósid’, in which the cattle used to live. Notice the ring on the wall where the animals used to be tied. The chair, Aluminium Chair AE, is from Vitra and is designed by Charles & Ray Eames. The glass PH table lamp is from Louis Poulsen.

A WALK-IN CLOSET takes you from the original house and into the extension, which exclusively serves as a master suite. The extension is designed by architect Eydun Eliasen. The practical, integrated cabinets with exclusive bronze mirror doors, one for him and one for her, are from KA Interiør. The tall, elegant door leads to a separate toilet. THE GUEST ROOM is used often when the children come visit from abroad where they study. The guest room has direct access to a wonderful and sunny terrace. Indirect lighting behind the headboard helps accentuate the original granite block walls. THE ROUND CORNERS ON THE FACADE and the black-wood cladding have been incorporated inside the house and around the varnished cabinets from Eggersmann. The furniture unit serves as a TV stand and includes a laundry shaft leading to the basement. The indirect lighting in the ceiling underlines the contrasts in the materials. The stool is from India. The chair is called No. 62 and is designed by Niels Otto Møller. A TRADITIONAL HJÁLLUR (fermenting shed) has been placed on the terrace. The rounded corners can be seen both inside and outside the extension. Due to the fairly constant temperatures in the Faeroe Islands, it also serves as an extra cooling cabinet.

THE SHOWER UNIT Starck Organic is from Axor Hansgrohe. The Unidrain drain is concealed under the tiles along the end wall. Soap from Aesop. THE FLOATING MIRROR is from Flaminia, the tap units are Starck Organic from Axor Hansgrohe. The dressing table with integrated bathtub consists of cabinets from Eggersmann merged with a Corian unit designed by Pascale Nemery. The sink is Happy D.2 from Duravit. THE SHOWER provides a direct view into the deep tranquillity of the forest. The shower cabinet can be used as both a shower and a steam bath. Designed by Pascale Nemery. The Platinum tiles on the bathroom walls and floors have also been used on the terraces outside to erase the transition and give you the feeling of showering outside.

THE HOUSE seen from the hilly garden. The windows and the terrace on the first floor offer a view of the city, the fjord and Nólsoy. THE GEESE roam the landscape and the roads. A charming sight in the Faeroe Islands! The wild Faeroese landscape fascinates, and rumour has it that once you have seen the Faeroe Islands, you will always yearn to return.