Johan Dehlin 

Tucked into the sloping coastal terrain of Alnö, an island just outside Sundsvall in northern Sweden, this slender guest house offers a quiet counterpoint to the rugged pine forest and moss-covered stone. Designed as an annex to a 1940s timber log cabin, the structure extends the site’s architectural language in form, material, and tone. Measuring just 12.3 by 2.7 meters, the guest house is compact yet complete—containing extra bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small studio facing the sea. It follows the contour of the landscape, standing on a grid of slow-grown pine posts, reaching 2.1 meters above ground at its highest point. Beneath it, where the site naturally falls away, a parking space tucks into the underside—an efficient response that avoids the need for a separate garage.


A covered deck runs the full length of the western façade, wrapping around to a small balcony at the southern end. This simple gesture mediates between interior and exterior, shielding the building from the northeast winds while offering framed views across the bay. In this way, the architecture defines both outlook and enclosure—it opens, protects, and anchors.


The structure is stabilized by internal cross-bracing and steel tension rods, exposed as a quiet undercurrent of tectonic clarity. The pine cladding and framing are treated with dark brown tar paint, echoing the vernacular finishes of traditional Swedish log cabins and harmonizing with the site’s palette of bark, rock, and shadow.


Modest in scale but precise in execution, the Alnö Guest House demonstrates a sensitive approach to building in nature. It neither dominates nor disappears. Instead, it takes its place—lightly held above ground, aligned with the trees, and open to the sea.