Architects and inventive home owners across the Nordics are re-envisioning the simple summer house. Some retain the core philosophy of the summer getaway but choose to use modern building materials and shapes, while others have created year-round retreats to escape the buzz of the city. Oak met the creators of some of the finest examples of the modern Nordic summer house today.

Established to create architecture where “social and environmental issues are the focus,” Stockholm’s Jordens Arkitekter have been crafting projects through this lens internationally since 1999. Co-founder and partner Johnny Andersson took this philosophy to his Swedish summer house project, Osprey Nest, at Lake Mälaren in Strängnäs, which he designed for his family’s use. As he explained to Oak, many elements are in keeping with the simplicity of the traditional summer house: “We have reduced all that is unnecessary [in the building] and allowed construction to be apparent down to the smallest detail. The handcraft and the architecture are interwoven; all the elements are natural and of known origin.