Norwegian Photographer Marte Garmann Photographs A Foggy Mountainside Cabin

This week’s featured project takes us all the way to Imingfjell Norway, where we’ll be drooling over Arkitektværelset’s Hooded Cabin as photographed by Marte Garmann. Marte is based in Oslo, and photographs all of her projects — whether architecture, food, or lifestyle images — with the same drama, darkness, and gorgeous pockets of light that you’ll find here at The Hooded Cabin.

Marte gives us a good sense of place here by photographing The Hooded Cabin shrouded in fog. The house juts out from the misty background as our eyes trace down the edge of the mountainside. This perspective shows off the massing of the cabin as well as its relation to the environment it is a piece of, relaying important visual information to us, and setting the scene of this home’s story. The cabin is perched at an altitude of 1125 on a stark and windblown mountainside. The cabin’s namesake— a protective ore pine hood — shelters it from avalanche and weather danger.

Wrapping around to the other side, Marte shows us the beautiful geometric structure of the cabin. The leading lines from the pine boards help accentuate the angular aspects of the mountain’s edge, and the landscape beyond. A little slice of a neighboring cabin peeks in from up the hillside. “The building becomes an understated iconic sculpture in an area that most cabins look alike” notes the head architect, Grethe Løland. I love how Marte subtly shows the contrast between The Hooded Cabin, and the surrounding traditional architecture.

A slightly askew perspective heightens the appearance of the angular geometric forms in the cabin’s design. These lines pull our eye out over the lake to pick up the scenery beyond. We are able to note the incredible view that the windows at the front of the cabin must provide once we get inside.

Marte gives us another moody and climatic scene. We are able to see what the cabin sees, as a sunbeam reflects off the water and burns through the dense blanket of fog. Marte’s work has a painterly quality to it. She isn’t afraid to let his shadows fall incredibly dark, while capturing interesting patterns of light and shape. These extreme ends of the dynamic range scale produce so much mood and interest, showcasing how special of a project and a landscape this is.

In my favorite image of the entire project, we see a jaw-dropping view from the kitchen area, noting the angular protective pine shroud slicing through the window. This image is purely about the view, and the interplay of light in The Hooded Cabin. It is architectural photography distilled down to the two strongest and simplest concepts, light and form.

Standing in the kitchen area and looking into the living space, gorgeous side lighting washes over the oak clad interior and furnishings. The balance in exposure between the interior and the window views feels right, and I love how Marte keeps the edges of the frames dark, as to draw our eyes toward the center of the living space and the view beyond.

Looking back into the kitchen, we get a better understanding of how all the spaces in the cabin connect. Marte allows this frame to be brighter, letting us see the details in the black cabinetry, the natural and minimal color palette that reflects the landscape, and the master bedroom area in the back.

An intimate one-point perspective familiarizes us with the cabin’s cozy but well thought out layout. We can now see the gorgeous oak woodwork that divides the large loft area off from the living space. We are able to imply the living, dining, and sleeping areas, although we aren’t shown them in their entirety. I appreciate all of the closed corners and how there is so much detail here, yet noting overlaps or is distracting.

One last inky and dark look out of the cabin reveals one of the panoramic, divided corner windows looking out into the fog over Lake Damtjønn.

Many thank you’s to the kind and talented Marte Garmann for sharing her photographs of The Hooded Cabin with us. You can see more of Marte’s work at her website martegarmann.com.

As always, If you have a project you’d like to be considered for Project of the Week, you can submit it here.