In Oostduinkerke, a region along Belgium's southwest coast where shifting sand dunes meet the North Sea, you might come across some slightly surreal sights, including a ship-shaped restaurant and fishermen on horseback. Joining them recently is an equally arresting villa designed by local architect Magalie Munters.
Step inside this curvy seaside villa in Oostduinkerke, Belgium
Conceived as a sculpted mass within the dune landscape, the design is shaped by terrain, wind and light rather than by façade composition. From the street, the home's curved shape resemble a protective shell, and quietly references the shape of the Normandie, the 1937 boat-shaped restaurant to the south of the seaside resort.
Nestled in the landscape, the volume tapers toward the rear of the plot to create a generous garden, while the subtle shift in geometry also allows sunlight to strike both the southern and western façades, so that light continuously wraps the building throughout the day – quite a feat in such a compact building.
‘For several years I have been working on houses with more organic geometries. Through that ongoing research, I developed a way of building in which construction and technology no longer act as a limitation to the architecture,’ Munters explains.
‘This allows me to work with curves across the entire volume in a precise and controlled way, and to carry that logic through into the details – such as the absence of roof edges, the integration of elements or the curved garage opening,' she continues. 'What might appear as a free form is in fact the result of a very deliberate construction logic.’
The villa’s bedrooms are half-buried – or anchored – in the dunes. Above them is a living space rising toward the horizon, amplifying height and light. It's a particular favourite of the architect: ‘You arrive there through a vertical shaft that continues up toward the roof and then opens into the main space,’ she says. ‘The space is articulated rather than uniform: on one side, the kitchen is more intimate, with a lower ceiling, while on the other side the ceiling rises and opens up.'
‘This variation in height is essential,' Munters adds. 'In the evening, the light moves along the curved walls and becomes almost tangible where the space expands. The ceiling – and therefore also the roof – is not an arbitrary gesture. It is shaped both by its presence in the street and by the atmosphere I wanted to create inside: more openness and light toward the front, and a more intimate condition in the kitchen. The roof itself will also be used as a terrace. Toward the back it offers more privacy, while at the front it rises to create views toward the sea.’
Munters was inspired partly by the work of Le Corbusier, especially ‘in the rooftop solarium, in the way spaces expand and contract, and in the vertical shafts that structure movement through the house’. The shaft that cuts through the house towards the roof also introduces a sense of movement that recalls the logic of a vessel. ‘Underlying this is a modernist approach in which architecture and construction are conceived as one coherent system,’ she says.
The villa’s striking façade appears almost striated, its concrete surface carrying a horizontal grain that recalls the sand at low tide, when the sea withdraws and leaves delicate striations behind. Meanwhile, to the side a horizontal concrete band marks the transition between the base and the elevated living spaces.
‘Much of the technical complexity is embedded within the structure itself. This allows the architecture to remain tactile and direct: raw concrete, lime-washed surfaces, visible textures and a certain roughness in the finish,’ says the architect.
‘The concrete elements, including the staircase, are not treated as separate objects but as part of one continuous material body, almost as if the house has been shaped rather than assembled. Even the façade and finishes involve a very delicate form of handwork. This tension between a hidden, highly controlled building logic and a more timeless, almost archaic material expression is what makes the project interesting to me.’
Concrete also features heavily in the interiors, including the staircase, bathrooms, built-in seating and kitchen, which are all conceived as carved elements within the monolithic body. Sandblasted oak furniture and vintage pieces stand out against a backdrop of lime-washed walls that make some of the rooms resemble the inside of a seashell.
