Start a project
studio@lysning.exampleOslo, Norway

Homes and cabins

New houses and cabins designed around the site, the light and the way you actually live.

Illustration of a black timber house with warm lit windows in a snowy clearing between spruce trees.

A good house starts with the ground it stands on. Before we draw, we spend a day on the site with you: where the wind comes from, where snow settles, where the sun is at nine in the morning in January, and which view you want from the kitchen table.

From there we work in models, not renderings. Simple massing models let you understand the volume of the house early, while it is still cheap to change. Once the plan feels right, we develop the details that make a building last in a northern climate: deep window reveals, ventilated timber cladding, roofs that shed snow where it does no harm.

Cabins get the same care as primary homes. Many of our clients use their cabin more than they expected, so we design them to work in every season and to be easy to heat, close down and open up again.

How a project runs

  1. Listen

    A day on site, a written brief and an honest first estimate of cost and time.

  2. Sketch

    Options in physical and 3D models until the plan and the volume feel right.

  3. Detail

    Permit drawings, construction details and tender documents for contractors.

  4. Build

    Regular site visits and quick answers so the building matches the drawings.

Questions we often get

How early should we involve an architect?

Before you buy the plot, if you can. A one-day site assessment tells you what the land allows, where the house should sit and what it is likely to cost to build there.

Do you work outside Oslo?

Yes. About half of our homes and cabins are in the mountains or on the coast, from Hardanger to Lofoten. We plan site visits around the key decisions so travel stays reasonable.

How do you charge for a house?

We agree a fixed fee per phase, from sketch design to construction follow-up. You can stop after any phase and keep all the drawings you have paid for.

Can you handle the building permit?

We prepare and submit the full application to the municipality, act as the responsible applicant and answer any questions from the planning office.

Thinking about homes and cabins?

Tell us about the site and what you need. We reply within two working days.

Start a project