Built for a couple and located in an area of Southern Holland notable for its extensive sand dunes, this house was designed to both embrace and stand out from the landscape.

Design concept and solution: Immersed in a sloping dune landscape, the design deconstructs a rectangular box and recomposes it into a house of three levels with a system of routes and living spaces, as well as access to the outside from all levels. The main floor, with kitchen, living, and dining spaces, is designed around a patio, and hovers above a dip in the dunes on the east side, while a stairway on the west side lets you walk down into the sand. Below that main level, half sunk into the dunes, is a concrete basement with a garage and the house’s main entrance. This bunker level also contains a guest apartment with its own separate entrance. A master bedroom suite, with a terrace and access to a rooftop deck that offers views to the sea, occupies the third level. All three stories have rooms connected by multiple hallways that reveal views to the landscape.

In this villa, each interior space offers its own unique experience, and each facade has its own composition and language that can be best comprehended when viewed from the outside desert landscape.

Total construction cost: Withheld