Two Million Swedes Made One Crowdsourced House

Image Credit: Hemnet

Want to see the ultimate Swedish house? Hemnet, a Swedish real estate site, analyzed the search behavior of almost two million Swedes to determine the nation's most desired property features. The site reviewed 200 million clicks on 86,000 of the most popular listings available between January and October of 2014, and collected pictures from the top 50 properties each week, which they handed over to architecture firm, Tham & Videgård. Using the data, the firm drew up a plan for Sweden's ideal home. 

On average, they determined that people were looking for a 1115 square foot structure made up of one or two stories, with around four rooms (three bedrooms and a full bathroom), not including the kitchen. Although 57% of the examined properties had an open floor plan, rather than a separate kitchen, Tham & Videgård made the executive decision to design “a large social kitchen with double-height ceiling” so it feels like a “living room in the kitchen, rather than a kitchen in the living room.”

The color scheme is predominantly white, as that was the most popular choice for wall and cabinet door color. They also chose grey sofas, a fully-tiled bathroom surface, and stone countertops for the kitchen. And because of the popularity of balconies and rooftop terraces—in 2014 "balcony" was searched 411,167 times, making it the most common search term—the house has a partially enclosed rooftop terrace. The full data is available on the website [PDF].

According to Tham & Videgård’s founders, the house is “a combination of the two types of buildings. A new standardized house within reach of most people. A simple, cost- and energy-efficient design that is easy to build and customize. But also a beautiful building with generous natural light and a feeling of space throughout the house.”

So far, only one of the Hemnet Houses exists, but according to the Hemnet website “discussions are underway to transform the Hemnet Home into real homes …” If the houses end up hitting the market, they would most likely sell for 2,775,000 Swedish Krona, or roughly $330,485.

[h/t Archinect]

All photos courtesy of Hemnet