Pleasure Dome Space Age House

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House "Villa Spies" designed in 1969 in Sweden.

Pleasure Dome House aka Villa Spies 

Welcome to the pleasure dome: welcome to a futuristic, hedonistic summerhouse designed in 1969 by the young Swedish architect Staffan Berglund for the wealthy danish visionary and business genius Simon Spies. it is located on the crest of a rock at Torö, Sweden, overlooking the ocean and the archipelago that surrounds Stockholm, the Swedish capital.

The spectacular Pleasure Dome House with its white plastic dome, crowning a soaring rock in the Stockholm archipelago, was designed in 1969 by Swedish architect Staffan Berglund for the famous danish business genius and tycoon Simon Spies. the villa spies, also known as villa fjolle, like so many other examples of its kind (Mies van der Rohe's "uninhabitable" Farnsworth house, for instance) seems to be left largely unoccupied by its present-day owner.

In 1967 an architectural competition is arranged by the danish travel agency and charter airline spies, Scandinavia's greatest success story of its day in the travel industry. (the "ie" sound in "spies" is pronounced like "ee" in "speed" or "ea" in "peas.") a number of architects from Scandinavia and Spain are invited. the task is to design a prototype for a mass-produced vacation house for Scandinavian tourists traveling to Spain who do not wish to stay at a traditional hotel. with growing affluence in post-war society, Simon Spies, the company's legendary founder and visionary, envisions all tourists in the future, not just the wealthy, to expect more than just a hotel room, a bed, a tv-set, and a continental breakfast: a double room, even in the nicest of hotels, soon becomes claustrophobic, especially at holiday areas that perhaps include little more than a beach and some palm trees, and lack any cultural offering.

The Swedish architect Staffan Berglund wins the competition. his proposal is for a circular, dome-topped, single-story house, made entirely of plastic. the vacation house is adaptable for any site - for the beach, as well as the mountains - and it is meant to be exciting, an experience in itself.

A system of movable screen walls allows the same open-plan prototype to serve both honeymoon couples and families of five. the movable walls are not really "walls" in the normal sense, though: they consist of freestanding closet and storage sections as well as light folding screens of corrugated cardboard that never touch the ceiling. the idea is that by providing cordless headphones to those who wish to listen to music or watch tv, it is possible for one member of the family to take a nap behind a cardboard screen while others are up and about. heavy inner walls become superfluous. an exception is made for the master bedroom, which is totally separated behind soundproof folding walls.

The kitchen is proposed to be equipped with disposable plates and cups, which at the time - in the sixties, before the energy crisis - is still not viewed first and foremost as presumptive waste, but rather as something which frees up time, and offers families on holiday a greater freedom of movement: to arrange a picnic becomes less of a strain when the picnic basket is not weighed down by genuine porcelain, silver, and real glass. families on holiday can avoid time-consuming meal preparation if so desired by purchasing meals delivered by the travel agency - even gourmet meals which otherwise take several hours to prepare (the bouillion for a Potage St. Germain, as the architect points out, should boil for twelve hours). meals, prepared by the locals, can become a small industry for each holiday area, providing job opportunities and income from the tourist industry even in remote villages.

All the interior fittings upstairs are white, as is the wall-to-wall carpet. the only exception is the very seventies warm-red color of the control panel - conveniently located on top of the back of the long white curved sofa - from which all of the house's technical finesses are monitored and controlled. all windows are furnished with motorized shades which block out all natural light. stationary slide projectors can project images onto the white shades, walls, floor and ceiling simultaneously. there is a choice of slides portraying anything from scenic landscapes to works of art. the projection of works of art replaces real works of art. recessed in the slit along the outer perimeter of the dome where the shades and their motors sit are twenty speakers, mounted invisibly, at equal distances all around. music, for example, or the recorded sounds of lapping waves can even be "cast into movement," wandering from one invisible speaker to another, round and around the house. (it is not the case, however, that the double bed or the whole house rotates, as the tabloids proclaim, and many locals still believe.)

When not using technology to unite everyone in the house in a collective sound environment and slide-show experience, technology can also be used to create privacy: in 1969 there are no cordless headphones on the market for home use, neither for the stereo nor tv. but a cordless system is specially built, so that several people engaged in separate activities - even music-listening and tv-watching - can use the open-plan space upstairs simultaneously without disturbing each other. this, and many other unorthodox solutions originally proposed in the competition entry turn out to work very well in real life.

Simon Spies likes the new house and spends much time there. during his stays the villa is used both as a private vacation dwelling and as a place of work. the house becomes a significant part of Simon Spies' business activity. in this way, the villa spies functions in the same way as manors and estates had done for centuries for the aristocracy, or as the merchant house did in commercial towns: they served both as a home and as the heart of the owner's professional and business entertaining activity. The villa spies is called by Simon Spies himself "the world's best conference facility."

The business meetings take place in a relaxed atmosphere on the long, curved, white sofa. these meetings often turn into social gatherings with dinners in several courses. at these and other special occasions, instead of using the kitchen facilities on the main level, the lower level's extra kitchen is put into service. the round table of the seating group lift is set downstairs. by the push of a button, like magic, the seating group appears upstairs.

The fixed seating accommodates no more than six people. this is for a reason: even if, occasionally, larger publicity events and receptions take place in the villa, simon spies believes that one should not be too many at the dining table. everybody should feel they are part of the same discussion. no one should feel outside. the limited seating of the dining group works as an excuse to avoid having too many people over for dinner or business: "sorry, there simply is no room for more people."

Between the courses the guests stretch their legs in the cool summer night on the terrace while the seating group disappears down under the floor so the table can be reset. after dessert the seating group disappears out of sight again. or the whole gang stays seated and travels with plates and cutlery down to the lower level and helps load the dishwasher before taking the seating group lift back up to the piano nobile again.

Simon Spies was Sweden's enfant terrible during the late 1960s and 1970s. His company "Spies" is still in business in Sweden and happens to be the biggest Swedish tour operator (we are not making this up). Here are a couple of images of Simon Spies (which explains the Pleasure Dome House he created). As you can see, this guy didn't mind to work hard but party hard as well.

Simon Spies in 1969.

Simon Spies in 1969.

Simon Spies in 1969.

And here is one last image of Simon Spies in the early 1980's, yes...too freaky perhaps and he didn't change a bit it appears, just a bit less hair:

Simon Spies in 1983.