House in the Dunes
Architect: Unknown Architects
Location: Terschelling, The Netherlands
Type: House
Year: 2022
Photographs: MWA Hart Nibbrig
Unknown Architects have created a cabin-style vacation home in the Netherlands with panoramic windows that overlook the surrounding dunes and hills. The home, appropriately named House in the Dunes, has a steeply pitched roof and a simple cross-laminated timber (CLT) and steel frame that is inspired by the adjacent buildings in Terschelling, Wadden Islands.
While the home appears to be a conventional single-story cabin from afar, Amsterdam-based Unknown Architects dug the building’s concrete base into the sand dunes, adding an additional floor and a protected patio space.
A concrete base, a core form of CLT and steel encircled by panoramic wood-framed windows, and a steep, asymmetric pitched roof wrapped in Accoya wood boards culminate in a building with three separate floors.
The window frames and roof planks were chosen for their ease of construction and the way they will age and weather over time, blending into the landscape as they gradually turn grey.
The high-pitched skylit ceiling and 360-degree vistas in House in the Dunes’ plywood-lined living space provide the impression of being in the countryside. Under the windows, a built-in bench wraps around the interior and serves as storage.
The kitchen and baths are separated from the living space by a central wooden block, which also creates a mezzanine level right beneath the roof’s skylight.
The big overhanging roof and demountable wooden shutters of House in the Dunes, as well as ventilation grills built into the timber window frames, help to reduce overheating.
The bedrooms, toilet, and entrance hall are all white, with smaller square windows framing views of the sand dunes.
Drawings
