Living on the Edge: Architect’s Dune Retreat in North Holland

A Small House in the Dunes – Dune House

Jetty and Maarten Min have lived for more than twenty years in a small bungalow with magnificent views that they promised themselves that they would do something stunning with “later”. The bungalow was situated on the sand dunes in Bergen-aan-Zee in North Holland (Dune House).

Then one day Jetty decided that “later” had arrived. This small coastal town now has a beautiful architect-designed home that on one side overlooks the village and on the other side the sea.

The design is modern and blends in with the local architectural styles that already are in existence in the area whilst setting a high standard of craftsmanship for their Dune House.

The Start

Starting with the existing bungalow which was built on one level, they decided that very little of the original style would remain but that the foundation and floor size would remain the same. All the ideas flowed from there.  There were a few modifications along the way to keep the neighbours and the local municipal officials happy.

One being the height restrictions. The Dune House side facing the complaining neighbor was reduced. Local environmental factors such as the sea breeze and the view were amongst the things that changed the design of the building. As an extra, they reduced their carbon footprint by installing solar panels, a heat pump, and insulation.

The Dune House final result is a neat and compact villa that they can be proud of. The contrast between the interior and exterior is interesting with the solid exterior opposed to the light and surprisingly spacious interior. Every facade of the home has it’s own character making this a highly unusual house. They can be contacted via their website here: www.min2.nl

This exerpt from the Architecture Art Designs story give a backstory to this Dune House design:

Materialization and low-tech

For quite some time they have been looking for the appropriate materials on the outside. Because the house is only 300 meters from the sea, they took the logical decision to choose for natural, sustainable and low maintenance materials. They called this a low-tech approach.

For the oblique façade- and roof skin they thoroughly searched for an existing material that would fit into the rough romantic scenery. In the end, Jetty came up with the idea to design herself a tile that would fit the desired agenda.

Following the remarkable Kolumba brick (Petersen Tegl) which was to be used for the dressing of concrete columns, a long ceramic flat tile was developed of 53 centimeters long, 17 centimeters high and 4 centimeters thick. These tiles give the impression of pot lid shelves, but ones which are much more low maintenance.

British Clay

The brown/purple appearance of the British clay with its rough finish has to visually match the bark of the surrounding firs. Thanks to all these characteristics, the building now perfectly fits into its surrounding environment.
This developing process took one and a half year. It has also been helped by the excellent cooperation of the professionals of Petersen Tegl. The tile has now been included in the collection of Petersen and used in several buildings in Europe.

Finishes

The finishing of the eaves has been carried out in zinc and has been pre-treated against ionization, which beautifully matches the tiles. The untreated wooden frames are made of Iroko, FSC approved and carefully handpicked to have the longest parts, in order to avoid gluing as much as possible. The reason to make use of untreated wood at this location stems from its low maintenance aspect, which also fits into the natural surroundings.

Where, if necessary, a lift can be build, the concrete stabilization drives have been closed with untreated western red cedar parts.
The building façade has a timber frame with a high insulation value. Because of this starting point they could easily design the bent and beveled forms as a basis. The basis of these elements consists of whitewood collar beams with multiplex sheets. These are built in several prefab parts, made in the workshop, for a smooth progression of the building process and to generate as less disturbance in the protected green area as possible.