Dunelands Residence — Coastal Wellness Retreat Shaped by Wind Alone
Dunelands Residence crowns a dune above Lake Michigan in Saugatuck, MI, United States, where dSPACE Studio shapes a house tuned to weather and water. The lakefront retreat translates the owners’ love of rugged, four-season adventure into rooms that prioritize wellness, outdoor living, and a quiet connection to the shifting dune landscape. Stucco, steel, and glass read with a low, assured profile against the horizon, giving the dwelling a grounded yet open character.
A low sand-colored form rises from the dune, its profile barely breaking the horizon before the view spills toward Lake Michigan. Light glances off stucco and glass as wind moves the surrounding grasses, linking the house to the restless slope below.
This is a house tuned to its site, a lakefront retreat in Saugatuck shaped by dSPACE Studio for clients who wanted art, wellness, and outdoor living at the center of daily life. The residence sits on a dune with wildfire risk and harsh weather, so every move negotiates between shelter and exposure. Context drives the project, from its sand-hued envelope to layered outdoor rooms that track the dune’s contours.
Settling Into The Dune
Sand-colored stucco wraps the exterior, calibrated to disappear gradually as dune grasses and junipers mature around it. Roof and walls read as a continuation of the landscape rather than an object imposed on it. Over time, vegetation obscures parts of the volume, letting the building sink visually into the slope while preserving long views toward the water.
Outdoor terraces step with the undulating topography, creating a sequence that starts at dune level and rises to the lake horizon. Each platform relates to a specific condition—morning sun, evening shade, wind protection—so daily routines can shift with weather and season. The house becomes a quiet instrument for reading the site.
Shaping Light And Shelter
A steel superstructure carries an ultra-thin roof plane that stretches outward in broad overhangs. These extensions temper summer sun, invite low winter light, and brace against gale-force winds and heavy snow loads. Structure and climate response align, turning a technical solution into a defining silhouette.
Beneath that slim roof, expansive glazing opens long sightlines to the lake and dune, minimizing visual barriers between interior rooms and exterior terraces. Passive solar orientation works with the overhangs, managing heat gain while preserving the sensation of exposure. The result feels open to light but firmly anchored against the elements.
Courtyard As Wind Refuge
On harsher days, life shifts inward to a crushed-granite courtyard set into the body of the house. This protected volume forms a counterpoint to the open lakefront side, giving the family a calm pocket when winds rise. Operable Cor-Ten steel panels edge the courtyard, rotating to either reveal dune views or close down for a cloistered, inward-facing experience.
Above, a deconstructed roof breaks apart into framing elements and an aperture that slices a pure rectangle of sky. Sun tracks across the granite and steel, turning the courtyard into a slow-moving sundial. Even at its most sheltered, the house keeps occupants in direct contact with weather and time.
Interior Calm, Lake Vernacular
Inside, porcelain flooring runs to the thresholds, visually uniting interior rooms with terraces and reinforcing the impression of an “infinity house” hovering over the dune. A restrained material palette and layered light set an easygoing rhythm that recalls laid-back beach towns without mimicry. Daylight filters through large panes by day and glows against warm surfaces at night.
A screened porch, veiled by louvers, recasts the classic lake house porch in contemporary terms while still reading as part of the broader regional vernacular. On both levels, bronze glass walls define rooms like translucent partitions, preserving views and daylight while giving art and furniture clean backdrops. Everyday life moves among dune, courtyard, and lake horizon in a continuous loop.
As grasses thicken and junipers mature, the house retreats visually into the dune while its terraces, courtyards, and glazed rooms keep daily routines tethered to water and weather. Light, wind, and sand remain constant companions, even when Cor-Ten panels close and the courtyard quiets. The project stays grounded in its coastal setting, reading the conditions of Lake Michigan and folding them into the rhythm of the home.
Photography courtesy of dSPACE Studio
Visit dSPACE Studio
