DUNELANDS

This home is set on a 60ft sand dune overlooking Lake Michigan, bordering the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. Our intent was to build a contemporary beach home that artfully integrates into the environment, minimizing the impact on the land.  

 

The design promotes a sense of lightness. Expansive planes of glass make the home transparent from different angles. The roof has an ultra-thin profile with graceful overhangs for passive solar heating and cooling. To the west, the roof lifts to open views of the lake and sky. The effect is striking—like a kite that has touched down and is ready to take flight in the next gust.

 

You enter through a courtyard, slowing the transition into the home by blurring the boundary between interior and exterior spaces. The courtyard, sheltered from prevailing winds, is enclosed by sculptural Cor-ten steel panels that shift like sails, opening views of the wooded backdune. An aperture in the deconstructed roof offers famed views of the sky.

 

The interior reflects the laid-back style of beach towns, influenced by icons of design from Orlebar Brown to vintage Ray Bans. We maintained continuity through repetition of an edited palate of materials and colors in each room. A clubby lounge is separated from the great room by a smoked brown glass panel that defines the space without disconnecting it from the home.

 

Our landscape design was inspired by dune ecology. We specified plants that thrive in this harsh climate, including junipers, pines, and grasses ,contributing to the sense that the structure touched down in nature without disturbing it.