”House with a saw-tooth roof ” started as a project for a young family in Linköping, Sweden, but soon turned into a concept for expandable living. Intended to grow along with your developing needs, the house is conceived as a framework that can gradually be filled with rooms. Add an extra bedroom when the children get older, a study if you need to work from home or a spacious bathroom when you can afford it.

The outer envelope of the house is fixed, consisting of two heavy walls separated by a stretch of sliding glass doors, with a lighter volume on top. The walls could be stone, concrete or as in this case, recycled brickwork, while the the upper volume is made from structural insulated panels. This volume is supported by a steel structure which acts as a grid into which rooms can be inserted as needed: add a trapezoidal sheet between the steel beams to support a new floor and put up a simple stud wall between the steel columns. The SIP-panels allow windows to be placed freely and additional windows to be incorporated when adding rooms while the saw-tooth roof provides a diffused light to the whole interior.

At the basic configuration, a bathroom, the laundry and the kitchen occupies the center of the house while the space around it is easily adjustable. The open plan between the two brick walls allows for a continuous flow through the house and the garden at the front and back of it. Fully developed, several rooms can be added to the second floor without making it feel less spacious. Plumbing is easy to access if you would like to add a bathroom or perhaps a sauna. The materials on the inside are kept simple: concrete, steel and plywood. On the outside the heavy brick walls contrast visually with the lighter volume which is clad in aluminium panels.