Today we look to Sweden, with the Villa Överby on the Värmdö peninsula east of Stockholm, designed by John Robert Nilsson Arkitektkontor. The house is an elevated box, a clear but concisely marked volume in an otherwise rustic landscape on a Nordic archipelago.

Click through for more house details, plus rumormonging on a certain movie blockbuster the Villa Överby will appear in later this year.

Interestingly, rumor has it that the three-bedroom house doubles as the villain’s lair in the upcoming David Fincher film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” adapted from the thriller trilogy by Stieg Larsson. The confirmed filming locations are vague, but the official trailer shows a house at 0:18 and 0:53 that fits the bill with Överby’s matte black exterior and uninterrupted glass walls.

There is almost nothing we love more than spotting architecture in pop culture (see here for Kanye West’s ode to punched concrete skylights in the form of Prague’s EggO House).

Now, for more specs on the house itself:

The glass wall frames sit in recesses in the limestone slabs, allowing the base of the glass to be flush with the ground.

The Gotland limestone on concrete foundation is crafted like a massive plinth, building walkways along three of the house’s façades under the roof’s deep overhangs.

Three façades are made up of a structural glazing system of full glass walls. The insulated glass consists of an outer layer of Optiwhite glass, reducing daylight discoloration, and an inner layer of thermal control glass to avoid condensation and downdraft.  The bottom of the glass frame is completely recessed and hidden between limestone slabs, making the boundary between outside and inside practically non-existent.

Situated on a natural plateau atop a rocky headland, the house enjoys panoramic views across the bay and the evening sun to the west.

The plinth extends out into a terrace at the rear of the building with a cut-away at the edge that creates a sunken swimming pool.

For more on Villa Abborrkroken i Overby, see the Architizer project page. For more on the firm John Robery Nilsson Arkitektkontor, see here.

by Kelsey Keith

posted in editor's pick

tagged archipelago, concrete, david fincher, editor's pick, film, girl with the dragon tattoo, glass, pop culture, richard neutra, sweden, Villa Överby

more articles by Kelsey Keith