About this project
Project: Shingle House
Architect: NORD
Location: Dungeness, UK
Commissioned by Alain de Botton for his Living Architecture series, NORD’s design has responded to the unique landscape of Dungeness on Britain’s Kent coastline. The house is built on a vast expanse of shingle beach empty save for a clutch of other dwellings, some ramshackle fishing huts and a vast nuclear power station.
The desert like landscape is lonely, poetic and exposed. The Shingle house was conceived to brave the elements and conform to the cultural context of Dungeness.
The project is a simple monumental black timber house finished with tarred shingles. The interior displays a subtle yet sophisticated palette of concrete and timber, finely executed fittings and careful consideration of space.
