Process Four steps from a first walk on site to the day we hand over the keys.
Card model of the Dune House living room
How a project runs
Most houses take two years from the first call to the handover, and public buildings around four. The steps are always the same, and you will speak to the same partner at every one of them.
01 Listening
Months 1–2
02 Drawing
Months 2–6
03 Models and light
Months 4–9
04 Building
Months 9–24
01 Months 1–2
Listening
We start with a week on site
We walk the site at every hour, from first light to after dark, and in more than one season when we can. We measure the sun, the wind and the views, and we listen to how you want to live or work.
Site walk at dawn
First sketches on site
02 Months 2–6
Drawing
Plans drawn around the sun
Back in the studio we draw the sun path over the site plan and place every room where its light will be best. You see sketches every two weeks, and we change them together until the plan feels obvious.
Sun path over the plan
Section through the living room
03 Months 4–9
Models and light
Every room tested in card
We build the main rooms as card models at 1:20 and photograph them under a moving lamp, from morning to night. Materials are chosen the same way, by holding real samples in real light.
Card model at 1:20
Midday light, tested in the model
04 Months 9–24
Building
On site every week
A partner and a project leader visit the site every week until the building is finished. We work with local builders and makers, and we stay in touch for the first year after you move in.
Concrete steps, Dune House
The finished stair hall
Building less
The greenest building is often the one already standing. We reuse what we can, build from local materials and design every house to run without fossil heating.
300
Kilometres, the farthest most of our materials travel
100
Years of design life for every structure
0
Houses with fossil heating since 2020
1
Card model for every room we draw
