Arne Jacobsen's Kubeflex summerhouse

Unique prototype made of six cubes complete with Jacobsen design

Jacobsen's Kubeflex summerhouse

The Trapholt Art Museum in Kolding in southern Denmark is full of surprises. One of them is architect and designer Arne Jacobsen's own summerhouse from 1969-70. Jacobsen fans flock to their master's summerhouse; we others are like flies caught in a spider's web. We are allured and fascinated by this unique summer abode.

Secret summerhouse
Architect and designer Arne Jacobsen died in '71, shortly after having designed the prototype for his Kubeflex summerhouse. It was therefore never put into production. Instead his family used the one-of-a-kind Kubeflex house as their beach summerhouse on South Zealand. Not many knew of its existence besides a few hard-core Jacobsen enthusiasts. In 2005 the house was sold to the Trapholt Art Museum for a symbolic price and moved module by module to its current location majestically overlooking the Kolding Fjord. The almost 40-year-old house was restored to its original appearance and today the re-established summerhouse is a significant asset for the museum.

Flexiblity
The summerhouse is made up of six cubes; each cube is approximately 10 square metres. The Kubeflex concept builds on the assumption that a young couple could make do with three or four cubes, and then add on as the family needed more space or could afford to extend the original house. The system is flexible, so units could be combined in a variety of ways according to the owner's needs. The only existing Kubeflex summerhouse is merely sixty square metres. This may not sound of much, but the summerhouse is complete with kitchen, lounge, bathroom, two bedrooms and indoor/outdoor fireplace. All the furnishings are with Jacobsen's own design, be it curtains, door handles, light fittings, dinner service and his quite original Swan and Egg chairs initially designed for the Radisson SAS Hotel in Copenhagen. While the many interior designs have been put into production, the Kubeflex, however, was never put into production, perhaps due to Arne Jacobsen's death and the architectural radicalism of this modern summer residence.

Museum, summerhouse and croquet
The summerhouse is well worth a visit on its own with superb free guided tours.  But the Trapholt Art Museum also offers much more modern art and design by Danish architects and designers such as Kaare Klint, Nanna Ditzel and Verner Panton.  Not to mention the fantastic sculpture park, free croquet on the lawn and a charming café. 

Trapholt Museum of Modern Art, Applied Art, Design and Fruniture Design in Kolding, Denmark www.trapholt.dk

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