Honka Markki invites you to an urban log home
By Sanna Huovinen 8.11.2016
Honka Markki is a two-storey residential house designed and built for a family of five. Designed by the award-winning Finnish architect Anssi Lassila and realised with the modern Honka log technology, the house represents contemporary Nordic architecture with respect for the local tradition.
The two-storey house has a high and narrow shape, which is typical of houses in the Ostrobothnian area of Finland. This gives the house a simple, streamlined and angular look.
The house is designed by architect Anssi Lassila, known as an innovator of Finnish architecture who combines traditional building materials with contemporary architecture. His honours include, for example, winning the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2015.
I was inspired by the Osthrobotnian building tradition and I wanted to refine it into something new. As a material, logs make it possible to create architecture suitable for cities, with its continuous lines and clear joints.
The living area of 185.5 m² contains four bedrooms, a large open kitchen and living room, a dining room with a bay window and an outdoor sauna building and garage. The main building and the outdoor buildings form a peaceful and private yard area.
The log walls are treated with matte white wood wax, letting just a hint of the wood grain show through. The floor is wide oak plank parquet, which intertwines beautifully with the shades of the walls. The natural colours of wood are allowed to shine in the dining area, connecting it beautifully with the landscape outside the window.
The large windows flood the space with natural light, while the surrounding landscape brings its colours inside. For this reason, the chosen colour palette is natural and simple. Contrast is added to the decor by using bold black surfaces and black accents, such as metal components in small furnishings.
The black facade enables the bold use of black inside the house, too. The white Lube kitchen opens up into the living room, and is paired with a black counter area which seems to hide the sink. The white countertops are by Silestone, while the black ones are Dekton.
The impressive Grado stairs catch your attention as soon as you step inside. The post-supported hand-rail solution, which continues all the way to the upstairs, adds a finishing touch to the decor. The steel railing also continues into the upstairs gallery. The steps are light oak.
The upstairs is designed to be a somewhat more intimate space than the downstairs, but the open gallery still draws the home dwellers together from their bedrooms. The upstairs living area can also be used as a bedroom if necessary.
The upstairs master bedroom opens out onto a beautiful lake landscape. When the landscape changes with the seasons, the colour scheme and atmosphere inside change along with it. The master bedroom has access to the balcony, which has a light structure allowing natural light to pass through.
The upstairs bathroom has a soothing atmosphere. The two effect walls are created with imi norr vitt tiles (60×60 cm) combined with cementi bianco (60×60 cm) on floors and other walls.
The side building houses a garage and storage space, as well as a sauna and guest room. For the customers, the solution made their dream of an outdoor sauna a reality.
The look of the buildings is unified, and they are joined by larch terraces.The terraces of the main house and side building frame the sheltered yard, which is landscaped to fit in with the surrounding forest.
This Honka log house is just perfect for our family! It’s cosy and warm, yet modern and architectural. We love the simple layout of the house, and its well structured ground plan and room division. We feel safe and secure in a log house, and appreciate its clean indoor air.
When built in a dense, urban environment, the positioning of the buildings enables peace and quiet even while being close to neighbours. The yard is divided practically for different activities, taking into account the needs of the whole family.
The Finnish word “markki” is a loan from Swedish referring to an area of land. In the South Ostrobothnian dialect, “markki” refers to one’s own courtyard.
Thanks to two innovations by Honkarakenne—the non-settling Honka Fusion log and the Honka Zero Corner solution – the Honka Markki log house has an architecture that fits in well with many different environments, from urban city landscapes with small plots and tight zoning requirements to locations close to nature.
The non-settling Honka Fusion logs allow for the inclusion of minimalistic, urban details. The large windows surfaces are joined to the non-settling walls with minimalistic mouldings. Instead of the traditional cross corners of a log house, the Honka Zero corners are perfectly suited for buildings in urban environments.
- Building Type: Residential house
- Fair house no. 19
- Living area: 167,5 m2
- Rooms: 6 rooms, kitchen, separate sauna building, car shelter and storage building
- Architect: OOPEAA / Architect Anssi Lassila
- Interior design: OMAdesign / Anna Tuohimaa
- Wall structure: non-settling Honka Fusion log FXL 204×260 mm / Honkarakenne Oyj
- Windows: Piklas EkoEnergia / Piklas Oy
- Doors: Kaskipuu
- Heating methor: district heating, underfloor heating
- Honka id: 21287
- Location: Seinäjoki, Finland
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