Jørns Espansiva

Beauty put into a system. Jørn invented a system for building wooden houses with modules. Industrial wood modules that could be put together in countless ways. And which could be expanded ad infinitum. He called it Espansiva.

Espansiva was built on what Jørn called the additive principle. The clever thing about Espansiva's additive principle was that the building system was planned from the start so that extra modules could always be built on.

If you wanted to expand your house, you could just buy a few more modules.

The drawing shows the modules, which were available in four different sizes. Which module was used for what depended on how big the room was wanted. Living room, kitchen, bedroom, utility room - the modules could be placed exactly according to the wishes of the residents.

In this way, a house could be built that suited the building site, the climate and the needs of the residents. And for less money than a specially designed house.

The modules were made of standard materials - that is, materials in standard measurements and sizes. And it is a lot cheaper to build with standard materials than to specially design a house.

There was great democratic potential in the standardization combined with the free placement of the various rooms. The building system gave self-determination and flexibility to the residents, and the standardization made it cheaper to build. It was architecture for the people.

It was nature and Japanese architecture that inspired Utzon to the idea of ​​the additive principle and Espansiva. It was a very innovative idea with a building system that can in principle be expanded indefinitely.

But unfortunately it was never put into production. Only a single Espansiva house was built, which served as a test house. The house is located in Hellebæk and is now a private residence.