Bruno Jakobsen expected things to tail off once the count hit 15,000. But the number kept rising. 50,000. Then 100,000. Then 250,000. At the time of writing, the Instagram page of The Nordic Barnhouse Project, photos of which Jakobsen began posting in 2020, has more than 300,000 followers. The problem with designing a house that goes viral, even if that house is in the middle of a forest, in rural Denmark, is that people have a habit of turning up uninvited.

“I was away with work when my wife called,” recalls Jakobsen, looking every bit the modern architect over Zoom, in a plain black T-shirt and black thick-rimmed glasses. “Two cars drove up to the house. The people inside knocked on the door. My wife said, ‘Do you have an appointment with my husband?’ They said, ‘No, but could we have a tour?’ Some people don’t believe this is my actual home – where I live with my family!”

Jakobsen is away with work far more often these days. He’s been an architect for 17 years, but it was the Nordic Barnhouse Project through which he gained international attention. “There have been so many crazy things that have happened in the past three or four years,” says the 48-year-old, speaking from the family home, designed in the manner of a traditional Nordic longhouse, the black flue of a log burner climbing up the white wall behind him. “I got a call from the architectural school in Valencia, Spain. They were working on a semester on Nordic design. They had chosen the Nordic Barnhouse to be the synonym. Two days ago, I was in Amsterdam for a new project... I’m yet to work in the United Kingdom, but I’d love to do something different in the English countryside.”

If you’re not following The Nordic Barnhouse Project on Instagram, you might recognise the house from the most recent series of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (Episode 1 on My4, if you’re interested). Even if you haven’t seen the programme, you’ll be aware of the aesthetic. “I refer to it as ‘new Nordic,’” says Jakobsen. “In architectural terms, it’s still quite sharp, quite tight, quite edgy, but it’s cosy and family-like – what we in Denmark call ‘hygge’.”

Jakobsen didn’t tell his wife the first time he visited the woods. He’d seen the plot for sale online and went to take a look. “I was walking around and when I looked up I could see the exact house I wanted to build.” There was a problem. The land was being sold by an 84-year-old architect on one condition: that he would have final approval on anything built.

“I met the guy on the walk back to my car,” says Jakobsen. “He showed me around. We had a conversation. He said, ‘You must come up with something that talks to nature, not against it’. I came back with some sketches and after a couple of meetings he said, ‘let me call the estate agent – I’ll tell them I’ve found my buyer.’” Today, Jakobsen and the architect are neighbours. They swap books on design.

As with Jakobsen’s other projects, natural materials are the cornerstone of the Nordic Barnhouse. Wood is the main character, inside and out, complemented by stone floors, black steel, and fittings in brass and anodised metal. Floor-to-ceiling windows make the most of a south-facing aspect, Jakobsen having spent a year observing how and where sunlight hits the woodland plot.

“I love the way a wooden house will age over time and change look,” says Jakobsen. “It will begin to tell a story – and I just love that.” Why does the architect think the Barnhouse has proven such a hit on social media? “I don’t think it’s just the architecture; it’s the lifestyle. We live in a society where people live very close to each other. We’ve built higher and higher, closer and closer, but we’re getting more disconnected from nature and from each other. When you move off grid, just a little, you suddenly start to know the people around you much better. I think a lot of people dream about that connection – to people and the countryside.”

Unsurprisingly for a property with such a large online following, Jakobsen gets the occasional Airbnb-style request. “People email me asking if they can book a room, if they can book the whole place. Someone with an apartment in New York asked if we could swap houses for a week.” And? “Well, I’m open to the idea, but my wife isn’t so keen on other people sleeping in our bed – we really do live here!”

Follow the project on Instagram

https://www.brunojakobsendesign.dk/