Building on Gotland limestone

The first time we walked the plot on Fårö, the clients apologised for the stones. The field was full of them, loose limestone lying in the grass, and an old dry stone wall ran straight across the land. They assumed it would all have to be cleared.

It became the starting point of the house.

An island made of stone

Gotland and Fårö are built of limestone, and it shows everywhere. In the flat fields, in the low walls between them, in old farmhouses and churches. The light on the island is bright and open, and the pale stone reflects it back. A house that ignored this would always look like a visitor.

We wanted the summer house to belong to the island as much as the walls around it. That meant using the stone, but also learning from the way it had been used before.

Following the wall

Instead of removing the old dry stone wall, we set the house beside it. We split the programme into two low buildings, one for living and cooking, one for sleeping, and placed them along the wall with a terrace between. The wall now shelters the terrace from the wind, and the two buildings frame a view of the sea.

Keeping the wall also kept the scale. Seen from the road, the house is no taller than the old farm buildings nearby.

Limestone and lime

The walls are built of local limestone and finished with lime render, the traditional way on the island. Lime is softer than cement and allows the masonry to breathe, so moisture can leave the wall rather than being trapped inside. It also ages gracefully. Where the render meets the old dry stone wall, the two already look as if they belong together.

Inside, we used limestone for the floors. It stays cool on hot afternoons and warms slowly when the sun reaches it. Underfloor heating makes it comfortable in the shoulder seasons, when the clients like to stay on.

Larch for the rest

Stone carries the walls, larch carries the roofs. The beams are left visible inside, and the doors and shutters are larch too. Lightly stained, the timber will turn grey in the sun and salt air and settle into the same palette as the stone.

What we learned

• Local stone is not only a material but a measure of scale, and it tells you how large a building may look

• Lime render forgives small movements and can be repaired patch by patch, which suits a house far from the nearest builder

• Two small buildings can feel more generous than one large one, because the space between them becomes a room

Building far from the mainland

Fårö is reached by ferry, and that shaped the construction. Materials were ordered early and delivered in a few large loads. Local masons who knew the stone did most of the walls, and our team visited regularly to check the work. The house took fourteen months to build, and most of that time was spent on the stonework.

Today the clients spend long summers there with friends. Our favourite comment came from a neighbour, who said the house looked as if it had always stood beside the wall.