On the edge of the 7,000-kilometer coastline in Denmark, you’ll find a one-off contemporary house called the Holmsland Dune House. What’ll strike you immediately is its heavily cantilever structure, as if a giant cross levitating.
The design represents the owner’s rare condition. The client explained to architect Viktor Sørless that he has a form of mirror-touch synesthesia. Synesthesia, for the uninitiated, is a condition wherein a stimulus triggers a different response in a person. For example, the musician Lorde has a form of synesthesia enabling her to “see” sounds as colors. Only 2 percent of the population carry this condition.
The client’s kind of synesthesia allows him to literally feel what others are feeling. For instance, they feel as if their own body is being touched whenever they see someone being touched.
In the case of the Holmsland Dune House, the client feels the sensation of the wind in the dunes, giving him a calming experience. Which explains the curtains and ceiling windows in every window, meant to accentuate the movement of the wind.
Currently under construction in the small town of Hvide Sande, the Holmsland Dune House, once finished, will sit in the artificial canal connecting Ringkøbing Fjord to the North Sea, in the western part of Central Denmark Region.
The dwelling’s remote location gives unobstructed views of the nearby panorama. As a result, it gives the client front-row seats to the beautiful landscape enveloping his cantilever house. He enters the house via an elevator room, which also serves as a vestibule and gallery.
Photos courtesy of Studio Viktor Sørless
