Villa Weinberg by Mette and Martin Wienberg // Højbjerg, Denmark.

I wish this was my house.

It’s not – because life is not fair, and also because it belongs to Mette and Martin Wienberg, both architects. Both Danish architects at that, meaning my predisposition to like this place is as strong as Sarah Lund‘s determination to fight crime, as severe as her eyebrows, and as enveloping as one of her jumpers.

The house is from 2006 so while it’s part of the series of little black slatted timber homes we’ve seen of late, by its age it’s in the vanguard of this type.

The exterior of the house is a bit strict and prismatic, but what a perfect sequence of space is housed within.

Some bits of this house are elegantly white; potential frigidity deftly offset by personable timber ceilings, by soft white drapes of the kind you’d normally seen on Grecian sculpture, and by friendly paper lamp shades. Rich carpets and tan leather take the frost off and add welcome texture.

Other rooms are warm timbered boxes. Wouldn’t these be wonderful spaces on wintry evenings with someone passing you a delicious bit of herring.

Pardon my Danish but there’s a “mor skide” conversation pit in the house. It’s love. I don’t know why the pit vanished from the residential oeuvre, having seemingly been a staple of The Awesome Seventies House. So sociable, evocative of easy evenings with friends, perfectly polygonally pitty.

I sometimes think that architecture and interiors put the publicity photoshoot first, and the result is cool expensive space that’s tough to live in. To me, a pit puts people back in the forefront.

Pits. Sociable spaces, for homes that are ready to party.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these pictures as much as I have.

Ende.

Text by Luke Moloney for Yellowtrace.

[Photos © Mikkel Rahr Mortensen, courtesy of Wienberg Arkitekter.]