Villa Malla
HIDE INFO| Type of project | Design, Architecture, Maritime |
| Location | Hurum - Norway |
| Owner/Builder | Sonja Lee and Laurent Surville |
| Finishing year | 2007 |
| Architect | Mrs. Sonja Lee and Mr. Laurent Surville |
| Parts with Kebony | Cladding |
| Special challenges | Eco-project, durability, aesthetics, resist rough weather, low maintenance |
Total refurbishment of an old beach hotel and the surrounding area, in the Oslo fjord, about an hour’s drive south of Oslo. Villa Malla has been transformed into a contemporary international restaurant and place for the public with an exotic touch. It has a very popular outdoor recreational area at the very seafront, with a sandy white beach and exotic palmtrees.
- The owners like to refer to it an open space for the public, to make people understand that this great place is for everybody. You can choose whether you want to bring your own food while you spend an hour or a day, or enjoy what their international kitchen can offer you.
The restaurant and conference centre in combination with the palm beach, the port and the helipad, make Villa Malla an attractive and easily accessible destination. The owners are famous chefs with som many years in the game that they never doubted any do's and don'ts during this huge, constantly ongoing refurbishing project.
- We know how we need things to be able to work, and to make our guests happy, owner Sonja Lee says.
- This is the 7th place we have built from scratch. Functionality is extremely important in a long and busy season, but we also both have a need of being surrounded by beautiful and artistic materials.
Mrs. Sonja Lee, Villa Malla:
- I did research on all kinds of material for the project, and made a long list of qualifications which needed to be fulfilled:
Durability, sustainability, great aesthetics, great quality, low-/no maintenance, economy according to quality.
Kebony met all the requirements, and I have become really fascinated by this product. So far we have used hundreds of square metres both indoor and outdoor, - all the wood is in fact Kebony. It has been a few years now, and I am very happy. The wood is beautiful, and seems to withstand anything.
When we moved here, we brought a lot of old outdoor teak furniture. It was starting to fall apart,but now we have replaced the broken parts with bits and pieces of Kebony. It feels good to fix things rather than buying new, and it looks really good with a bit of this and a bit of that.
Now we are building a whole series of outdoor Kebony benches.
Villa Malla is situated on the waterfront in the middle of the Oslo fjord and has every kind of weather imaginable. Decking, piers and other outdoor wooden constructions are normally very costly and require high maintenance to withstand the harsh weather conditions in countries like Norway.
During winter the whole pier is covered by salt water, which is a great challenge to the wood. I watch it with hawkeyes, but am not even close to being disappointed .
Kebony makes its way by constantly showing us its potential and giving us new ideas. It is really a great product!