Brattö Nature Centre — an interior architectural project that explores the relationship between the body and space.
I grew up on the island of Brattön, located in the southern part of Hakefjorden in Bohuslän. The island is characterized by unique natural and cultural values and attracts visitors each year, particularly during the summer months to experience and explore its landscape. The idea arose to create a place dedicated to communicating knowledge about the island’s rich natural environment and cultural heritage, a nature centre.
The project investigates how a nature centre could be designed on Brattön through a reconstruction of an existing boathouse located at the ferry landing on western Brattön. Drawing on phenomenological principles within interior architecture, the project is grounded in the site’s natural and cultural values, materiality and the sensory experience of space. At Brattö Nature Centre, visitors encounter the scent of wood, materials that age and transform over time, the sound of ocean waves, and the rough texture of stone as an extension of the cliffs outside.
The nature centre is a place of presence and contemplation, offering visitors an opportunity to pause, reflect, and allow their imagination to wander. Through framed sight lines in Brattön’s landscape, each window offers a specific view, adapted to the body’s position of sitting, standing or lying. The result demonstrates how a sensitive extension can be integrated into the landscape, creating a meaningful relationship between human, space, and site.