BEACH HOUSE

Built on a portion of the Jersey Shore devastated by Hurricane Sandy, the “Beach House” is a response to ways in which we can coexist with forces of nature. RAAD does not view landscape architecture as a stand-alone discipline; this project is more about the land than the building itself.

After careful study of tidal forces, as well as an adjacent nature preserve, our response to the project brief was to create a restoration of the original dune-scape - the natural forms born from the air and water over centuries - that had once existed there. This solution both lifted the house elevation and also created a hydrodynamic sluice which in future emergencies, allows water to pass through the site, rather than building a bulwark against it. The house itself is two simple volumes that respond to views and air movement, built humbly with the time-tested materials and techniques that have been the vernacular for generations.