When a couple in the suburbs of Gothenburg, Sweden, contacted locally based STEG Arkitekter to design a freestanding 270-square-foot gallery in their garden to display rotating exhibits of their extensive art collection, the architects approached the project as if “modeling a sculpture,” says firm cofounder Karolina Hegen. Her partner, Jenny Stening, adds that it was a challenge to tuck a building into the tight, awkwardly shaped site while meeting zoning regulations. The need to maximize wall space for artwork and still illuminate the interior with northern light led the architects to insert a scalene triangular skylight in a corner of the cross-laminated timber structure, which is clad in blackened steel. Juxtaposed with the couple’s white-painted traditional wood house, the unusual private gallery—occasionally opened to the public for events—is like “jewelry” for the garden, Hegen says.
Snapshot: Art Gallery by STEG Arkitekter
![Art Gallery by STEG Arkitekten.](http://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/Issues/2020/12-December/Art-Gallery-by-STEG-Arkitekten.jpg?1607033711)
Photo © James Silverman