Dunes & Sand Residence
Dunes & Sand Residence is a minimalist residence located in Knokke, Belgium, designed by Arjaan De Feyter. The villa emerges from an unusually collaborative process, one rooted in extended dialogue rather than a predetermined aesthetic program. The clients arrived having interviewed several established names in Belgian interior design but having come away with the sense that they would be occupying someone else’s vocabulary. What distinguishes this project is the evidence of genuine exchange embedded in the spatial decisions, where pushback and refinement left their marks on the material choices.
The existing architectural framework, conceived by Hans Christian Demyttenaere of MYTH, set the terms. Strong sightlines and half-level transitions established a spatial logic that the interior design preserves rather than dismantles, working within the architect’s scheme to rethink program without flattening the vertical choreography. This restraint reflects a Belgian sensibility familiar from practitioners like Vincent Van Duysen and Bernard Dubois, where interior intervention operates as a continuation of architecture rather than a cosmetic overlay. The half-levels become opportunities for atmospheric shifts, moving occupants through zones of varying intimacy without requiring the theatrical gestures that larger villas often rely upon.
At the heart of the composition sits the entrance volume, clad in a deep bronze lacquer finish. The element functions almost like a monolith in the Donald Judd sense, a centrally positioned object that organizes circulation while establishing a tonal anchor for the surrounding spaces. Its lacquered surface catches and holds light differently than the matte finishes elsewhere, registering shifts in daylight across the course of a day. The decision to render it in bronze rather than a neutral emerged from extended negotiation, as did the choice of darker wall finishes throughout. These discussions produced conviction rather than compromise, and the resulting surfaces carry the weight of that deliberation.
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