The Dune House, Jarmund/Vigsnaes AS Arkitekter MNAL, Thorpeness, United Kingdom.

Architects tend to speak a lot about why we do the things we do. In architecture school we call it an alibi. But oftentimes, the best projects need no words, and instead coerce a visceral reaction from the viewer.

You know the way a consumer just needs to reach out and touch the thinness of an Apple product? That’s the way I felt when I first saw The Dune House on Architizer. I wanted to reach out and lift off the timber-clad top portion and peer inside – like I would with a doll house.

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The roof scape, a riff on English gabled roofs, is so well proportioned that it alone would have been a magnificent building, but the talented team at  Jarmund/Vigsnaes AS Arkitekter MNAL chose to lift the house off of the ground plane and have it hover over a glass and concrete public landscape. This audacious design choice, which could easily have veered into the nadir of over-design, is the project’s crowning achievement. The interior spaces it creates are exemplary and the overall building composition is one filled with surprise and delight.

The best part? You can stay there! Short vacations are priced from £783 for 4-nights. Let us know if you rent a room… or if you really want to get me a birthday present.

by Marc Kushner

posted in New Projects

tagged england, jarmund/vigdnaes arkitekter, New Projects, the dune house, thorpeness

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