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bi-folding doors villa Sweden
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In the case of a holiday home, it is important both functionally and architecturally to remove spatial boundaries. This makes the house feel bigger and invites you to spend more time and live outdoors. For this purpose, we often use folding or sliding doors.
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Architect Lotte Elkiær
GFW Villa Schweden
GFW Villa Schweden
A house that invites you to live outdoors

This design principle is at the heart of Danish architect Lotte Elkiær's design for a holiday home. In Villshärad, a small town on Sweden's west coast, she has realized this vision in an elegant villa with Scandinavian flair. The house, designed for a design-savvy couple, is characterized by fluid transitions between interior and exterior. This concept is particularly impressive in the "Orangerie" – a light-flooded wintergarden that connects the main house and guest area. Large bi-folding doors allow for flexible opening of the room.

Architecture between Hamptons and Scandinavia

Villshärad, a small town on Sweden's west coast, is known for its beautiful beaches and quiet, natural surroundings – a popular destination for those seeking relaxation, especially in the summer months. By a happy coincidence, the clients, architect Lotte Elkiær, discovered a natural plot of land near the water, on which an old house from the 1940s stood. They spent their holidays there for two years before the building permit for their dream home was finally granted.

Their wish: a holiday home for every season, which offers enough space for family and friends and blends harmoniously into the landscape. At the same time, it should consciously stand out from their home in Stockholm. They found inspiration in the Hamptons' iconic wooden beach houses – emblems of elegant, laid-back coastal living that perfectly blends luxury and nature.

With this vision in mind, they turned to the Danish architectural firm elkiær + ebbeskov arkitekter aps – an ideal choice. The architects combined the Hampton style with the minimalist aesthetics, high functionality and warm, welcoming atmosphere of Scandinavian design.

GFW Villa Schweden
GFW Villa Schweden
Open-plan interior design with a strong connection to the outside

The result is a single-storey, light-flooded holiday home with a warm cedar wood façade. The U-shaped ground plan is divided into two parts: the main house for the spouses and a separate area for guests and family members. The entrance is deliberately placed in a discreet manner – entirely in the spirit of the client.

The main house includes a kitchen, dining area, bedroom with bathroom and library. Height offsets in the floor and ceiling structure the rooms, some of which flow into each other, so that they sometimes appear more open, sometimes more intimate. The separate guest area offers a bedroom and bathroom as well as its own kitchen.

GFW Villa Schweden

The new vacation home blends the luxurious elegance of the Hamptons beach houses with the minimalist aesthetic of Scandinavian design.

GFW Villa Schweden
GFW Villa Schweden
The Orangery as a connecting element

Between the two living areas is the "Orangery" as a communal meeting place. "It was clear to the clients early on that they wanted a common space where everyone could meet," says architect Lotte Elkiær. The area has been deliberately designed to be airy, with generous skylights and plenty of natural light. "The room is the most pleasant place in the summer because the air can flow through it, and it has become the favorite room of the family, who use it all the time," says Elkiær.

Flexible opening with the bi-folding doors

On the west side, the orangery opens up with a large bi-folding door – the ideal opportunity for the architect to connect inside and outside. "In the case of a holiday home, it is important both functionally and architecturally to remove spatial boundaries. This makes the house feel larger and invites you to spend more time and live outdoors. For this purpose, we often use folding or sliding doors," says Lotte Elkiær, describing the advantages of bi-folding doors.

The choice fell on the Ecoline aluminium system from Solarlux. It consists of six elements with a height of 2.60 meters and a width of one meter each. One element is designed as a swing panel, creating a separate exit. To open it, three elements are folded to the left and three to the right and parked as narrow glass packages on the terrace – creating a barrier-free façade opening of around 13 square metres. When the elements are closed, they offer protection from the weather, while the filigree profiles continue to provide an uninterrupted view.

GFW Villa Schweden

The aluminium profiles of the windows and bi-folding doors are kept in subtle light grey, which matches the cedar wood façade, which acquires a natural grey patina over time.

A room for every season

The client particularly appreciates the high flexibility of the system, as it can be opened to different lengths depending on the weather. Also aesthetically, the bi-folding door fits harmoniously into the Scandinavian-influenced design of the house. Its filigree appearance with homogeneous surfaces is preserved thanks to minimally visible engineering. The aluminium profiles have been chosen in a subtle light grey, which harmonises with the cedar façade as it takes on its natural grey patina over time.

Advantages at a glance

Icoon voor maximale opening
Icoon voor maximale opening
Maximum opening
Inside and outside merge
Icon isolation thermique
Icon isolation thermique
Thermal insulation
Perfect profiles for heat and sound insulation
icone mise en lumière
icone mise en lumière
Highlight
99 mm visible width
Icône pour l'étanchéité à la pluie battante
Icône pour l'étanchéité à la pluie battante
Sash centering
Tightness against driving rain and wind load resistance
Icoon inbraakwerendheid
Icoon inbraakwerendheid
Burglar resistance
Security according to RC3/RC2
Icoon toegankelijk
Icoon toegankelijk
Accessibility
Different floor rail variants
Glas-Faltwand Ecoline Profilschnitt
Glas-Faltwand Ecoline Profilschnitt

bi-folding doors

The possibilities of a bi-folding door are almost unlimited. It achieves what no other floor-to-ceiling window offers: generous glass fronts that can be opened almost 100% and offer maximum protection when closed. Unlike the classic sliding door, the individual elements of the bi-folding door can be folded completely to the side to form a narrow leaf package. This capability also qualifies the bi-folding door for flexible interior organisation in all types of buildings, such as room extensions in offices, retail and hospitality as well as in schools. Their limitless combinability and best insulation values also make them an efficient façade solution for upgrading balconies and loggias.

bi-folding doors for planners
Order now: The bi-folding door brochure
Would you like to find out more about individual systems and technical details of our bi-folding doors? Then you are welcome to order our comprehensive product brochure.