Outbuilding of the Week: A See-Through Shed on a Picturesque Shoreline in Norway

On Norway’s northwestern coast, a 12-mile stretch of the Hustadvika shoreline faces the shallow waters of a fjord–dangerous for ships but home to many small, picturesque islands and reefs. From the land, the views are beautiful. It would be a shame to destroy the vantage with bulky garden outbuildings at the edge of your property. Solution: see-through sheds.

Clients who own a a summerhouse property at water’s edge in Norway asked Oslo-based architects Rever & Drage to create three small garden outbuildings: a tool shed, a rain shelter, and a camping area. When the sheds’ doors roll open, they frame the view of a nearby narrow inlet with high cliffs.

Photography by Tom Auger courtesy of Rever & Drage.

Above: The wooden buildings surround a wood deck at the edge of a client’s summerhouse property. Design team Tom Auger, Martin Beverfjord, and Eirik Lilledrange created a clever solution to what Auger describes as “the clients’ need for a wind-and-rain shelter at their outdoor summer house-piazza, and as a combined toolshed and special-occasion-sleep-under-the-stars facility.”

Above: The architects sprayed the wood with a coating of tar–traditionally used to waterproof boats–to protect it from the salt spray on the northwest coast of Norway. The buildings are built to withstand an onslaught of saltwater spray (a daily occurrence) and unpredictable weather.

Above: Double doors on two sheds slide open. The sheds’ rear walls are glass panels and reveal a view of the fjord.

Above: The largest building has a retractable roof that can slide forward to create an awning for the patio. Beneath the roof is a glass skylight; when it slides open, the open space below is still protected from rain.

Above: The underside of the retractable roof, which is powered by an electric motor.

Above: The doors on the main shed (R) fold back to open.

Above: “In the end the building turned out looking both new and old,” says Auger. “The main forms, in their abstract expression and lack of cornice are typical modern looking, while the exterior surface is typical old-school, with the wood panels coated in tar, just like the traditional waterproofing for local wooden boats.”