“As an architect, you have a major responsibility—design-wise and material-wise, it should stand the test of time.”

Stepping into the seventeenth-century townhouse of architect Danielle Siggerud is a study in minimalism, contrast, and warmth. The serene home she shares with her husband was originally the Royal Naval Base and sits directly on the canal, overlooking the beautiful harbor of Copenhagen. Danielle, whose Norwegian and Thai heritage offered her an understanding of cultural contrasts, studied within a stone’s throw of her current home at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Engaging the old with the new, dispensing with trends, and following the mandates of function but executing form with élan coalesces her principles. Danielle’s precision with details, however, is striking. The thoughtful attention that went into material choices, layout, and how she engages in her space was undoubtedly shaped during her time working under John Pawson.

In Danielle’s home, old and new mingle with ease, both architecturally and decoratively. The building’s original seventeenth-century beams, which had been obscured during previous incarnations, lend a statuesque, rustic framework to the home. They act as a skeleton, supporting the contemporary elements Danielle has orchestrated around it. “We wanted the beams to be like a statement, like sculpture,” she says. The townhouse boasts a deep footprint but doesn’t benefit from four exposures. In an effort to maximize sunlight’s reach, Danielle chose materials that either amplified it or had a porous quality for light to filter through. Extremely thin-profile steel-framed glass doors and staircase rails keep the home open, while also providing a contemporary, urban contrast to the centuries-old beams.

Danielle’s approach to design and architecture is complementary. She uses materiality to guide you through her home: designating the historical, the new, that which she wants to focus you on, and that which she wants to draw you away from. The original walls are delineated by a sandy, plaster terra-cotta-like three-hundred-year-old antique treatment, while the new walls are a minimal, disappearing white. “I always show what is actually original and what is old,” says Danielle. “I’m not trying to make something look like each other.” Similarly, in the kitchen, she chose the most basic of Carrara marble to swathe her backsplash and countertops. It is not meant to steal the show, but recede, so you focus on the historical wall treatments and beams that loom above it. Her design narrative is quietly directional.

A devotion to minimalism underpins her style; however, Danielle also has a big family, and loves to cook and entertain. So she places a big emphasis on concealing the practical, adhering to the mantra “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” In her bedroom, she installed doors that fold in on themselves, which conceal mundane necessities—like the TV, water kettle and faucet, and makeup table. “They are still present,” she says, “it just makes your life a little bit easier.” Danielle demonstrates a degree of self-awareness, confidently knowing how she lives and letting it lead how her space can most easily facilitate that.

Danielle has a poignant approach to the life cycle of furniture; she only buys vintage, and sells something if she chooses to buy a new piece so there’s “circulation,” as she puts it. Her Buddhist Thai and pragmatic Nordic background are both synthesized and distilled in this responsible method. Danielle also embraces moments of romantic conceptualism. One of my favorite elements in her home is an asymmetrical elm root desk Danielle designed for her husband as a wedding gift. Two separate tabletops are supported by three trunk-like legs. “It is symbolic of their individuality, but they are unable to stand alone. Together, they become complete—referencing the love between two people,” Danielle says.

I love this sentiment, as it corresponds to much of life, and it most certainly applies to design. It is this concept that I have tried to expound on in this book: examining single, unique facets—art, objects, furniture, textiles—that converge to create compelling personal spaces, singular to one person’s journey. It is in the accumulation and orchestration of these single pieces that a picture is painted, forming a home that reflects its creator.

“It was very important to emphasize the contrast between what was old and new.”