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P R O F I L E | J A M E S S T O C K W E L L
that are important. Chiefly, in this instance,
the clients' growing family, as well an
appreciation for being in nature, for local
artists, and for the cache of original Danish
furniture they inherited. The process was
not about building a magnificent house,
with everything secondary to that, but
in making a home that supported and
fostered the clients' priorities. Where
design is for most people something to do,
"Design 'just is' for the Danes," Stockwell
explains. "It's a given," affecting "all
aspects of life."
Life at Bunkeren is magnanimous. Despite
its mass, it feels light, with great swaths of
flowing interior space divided into private
and communal areas, including the kitchen,
dining and living areas, as well as five
bedrooms, bathrooms and a studio. The
reveals come slowly, in a progression that
makes its way ever lower on the slope, with
floors both above and below ground. Each
space, no matter its scale, is an expression
of hygge, highlighting beautifully crafted
concrete walls, warm wood and vast glass
openings.
There is no "showstopper" in a house
of this magnitude—the whole thing
classifies as such. Nevertheless, tucked
factors in a plan that emphasized function,
natural light, good cross ventilation and
what Stockwell describes as "an uplifting
quality of openness."
The Danes call this hygge, a defining
characteristic of Danish life that centers
comfort, conviviality and well-being, in
which houses need to be, as Stockwell
puts it, "more than roof, floor and walls," to
enable inhabitants to find quality in things
28 DIGS.NET
| 6.16.23
