Situated in a rural enclave on the shores of the Baltic Sea, this minimalist new-build holiday home provides every opportunity for a young family to revel in the untouched landscape and beautiful natural light that has been attracting vacationers to the area for generations.

WORDS Robyn Alexander PHOTOGRAPHY Greg Cox/Bureaux

There’s an intangible yet very real quality of “specialness” about the coastline of the Baltic Sea – an atmosphere that has been attracting holidaymakers to the region since the mid-19th century. Ask homeowners Thekla and Einar Osterhage (who live and work two and a half hours from here, in Hamburg) why this is the spot they chose to build a holiday cottage, and they explain that it is the area’s “amazing coastline” as well as the unique “shape of the landscape in combination with a kind of mysterious light” that make it so very attractive. In short, the Baltic coast has a touch of the magical about it.

The Osterhages had been searching for the right piece of land in the area on which to build their own holiday house for quite a while when, says Einar, this one suddenly appeared. “It even had a view of the sea,” he adds, a “semi-requirement” that they had “never expected to be fulfilled”. Possibly even more of an attraction were the property’s open-ended vistas of the surrounding landscape in both easterly and westerly directions – a feature that meant the house could be designed along a dawn-to-dusk axis and is flooded with light throughout the course of the day.

this is a place that is all about simple pleasures

Having reserved the plot of land in 2014, the Osterhages started planning their future house right away, and finally purchased the property outright about a year later. A further process of planning and getting a first building permission followed – at which point, they “reconsidered and involved an architect, who created the final design”, says Einar. In the end, the entire process of designing and building was completed in 2018.

Apart from a delay during the construction phase that led to some anxious autumnal moments before the roof went on, and during which the Osterhages were “praying for sunshine”, Einar says, the process went smoothly. Their chosen architect, Anja Richter Modersitzki, studied with Einar’s brother at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London – and here, created a design that cleverly shifted and tweaked what Einar describes as “the strict symmetry and rectangular angles” the Osterhages had initially envisaged. By doing so, he adds, she “offered really new perspectives that the final structure greatly benefits from”.

SPRUCED UP The interior of the cottage is light-filled, open plan and – like the exterior – wood-clad in spruce, with a gallery leading across the first floor that connects to the two bedrooms upstairs.

One such especially striking element is the large, off-centre picture window that punctures the rear façade of the house: perfectly placed to frame a large tree when looked through from the interior, the window “is the result of the very good imagination of our architect, who put it in place asymmetrically and designed it asymmetrically, both aspects that work very well,” explains Einar.

The selection of materials with which to build and finish the house was also crucial to the resounding success of its design, which combines minimalism and warmth to memorable effect. With interior spruce-wood cladding – this is a home that is as lovely to smell in person as it is to view in photographs, complemented by screed floors and yet more wood on the exterior. The latter will continue to fade from its initial yellow to grey over time and, Einar says, serves as “an offering to the surrounding plants to get in touch with the house”.

With their daughters Herta and Irma, the Osterhages now regularly spend weekends at the house as well as holidays – with the annual summer holiday an especially cherished time. No matter when the family arrives here, though, “it’s always an uplifting moment to get to the place, enter the house and have a look out of the window,” says Einar. “We very much enjoy coming here – be it on our own or with company.”

As its design demonstrates, this is a place that is all about simple pleasures. Time spent here most frequently involves “enjoying the openness of the whole place and just sitting in the garden”, Einar says. Everyday tasks such as shopping from “the local baker and butcher and preparing meals” are complemented by outdoor activities such as trips to the beach, taking a walk with the dog, or heading out for a bike ride or a spot of sailing.

SLEEK SIMPLICITY The sleek built-in kitchen cabinets – finished in a deep grey shade contribute to the sense of spaciousness in the open-plan dining and living area.

The striking and resolutely contemporary feel of the design means that initial feedback from neighbours and locals was mixed, says Einar. It ranged from “‘Oh, it’s such a beautiful house and I like the staircase so much’, to ‘Ah, you mean that ugly house up the street’,” he smiles. But following its completion, the house has become “generally accepted, and we figure that it fits into the village and the landscape well. In the end, it’s not so much the house as the way you behave that defines the reaction of your neighbours.”

The structure doesn’t have a large footprint, but the design makes canny use of every centimetre. On the ground floor, an open-plan living, dining and kitchen space feels larger than it is in part because of the double-volume ceiling space at its centre, and also as a result of its minimal, mostly built-in furnishings and plethora of storage, which keeps all the usual family clutter neatly stowed away.

The large windows and the sliding doors out onto the open-air terrace at the front of the house add to the sense of expansive ease. No less than four bedrooms have been tucked in, too: two on the ground floor and another two upstairs, where a widened corner of the wooden gallery is also furnished as a “pyjama lounge” with a slouchy sofa that invites reading and relaxation.

When asked about their favourite spaces in the house, the Osterhages plump for its ground floor and open-air deck. “These are the places just to ‘be’ in… cook, eat, relax and enjoy yourself,” says Einar. As expressed by its thoughtful architecture, this is a holiday home in which the oft-neglected pursuit of “just being” is paramount – and in turn, it’s what makes this minimalist house so very attractive.