London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2025

After a Motorcycle Accident, an Architect Builds His Dream Home

After a Motorcycle Accident, an Architect Builds His Dream Home

Tommy Rand didn’t want to waste any more time, so he got to work designing a minimalist home for his own family on the outskirts of Aarhus, Denmark.

While Danish architect Tommy Rand mainly focuses on urban property development via his firm Markholt & Rand, he recently flipped the script with one of his latest projects, a new two-level home for his family. The architect, who’s now 40, had always dreamed of building a house of his own, and after a near-death motorcycle accident in 2018, he decided it was time. While in recovery, he began thinking about the design.



"I could only sit up for one hour at a time due to the injuries from the accident, so I had a lot of time to think," explains Tommy. "My vision was to create something new and modern, which did not look like other houses."



Located in Aarhus, Denmark, the contemporary home consists of five boxes which rest on a sprawling concrete base. "All of the details were carefully considered," Tommy says. "The five boxes shift in facade lines and heights to make the design more dynamic, but it’s still simple and minimal."



When you enter the home, its central feature is immediately on display. "There, a spiral staircase stands in the middle of a square window, like a sculpture," says the architect. "The shape of the stair is like a snail house, which opens up more and more as you go up to the first floor."



To achieve the stair’s mesmerizing effect, Tommy used CNC-cut plywood. "There are 630 pieces, and they were all assembled and glued on-site, piece by piece," he says. Tommy also designed a lot of the home’s furnishings, working with a local cabinet maker who used oak wood.



In addition to oak, the home comprises two more main materials: raw concrete, and Norwegian Oppdal quartzite stone. "I used the materials in different combinations throughout the various rooms to make a cool balance between raw and fine, cold and warm," says Tommy.

To enhance the home’s minimalist aesthetic, he hid the lighting, ventilation, and home speaker system behind the ceiling’s oak slats.



Measuring nearly 800 square feet, the residence features large, open living areas, four bedrooms, two baths, and a garage. Glass doors connect the lower level public spaces to the outdoors, where a west-facing terrace links to the kitchen. "The floors on the terrace are made from Norwegian stone, like inside the house, so it makes the inside and outside space float together visually," says Tommy.



"The most important lesson I learned during this process was not to compromise on design and materials," he concludes. "I did not, and it is a great satisfaction every day when I am in the house."


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×