BarefootLiving lightly on the land

This cabin-like home has been designed for a kiteboarding couple who have lived in Turks and Caicos for over 25 years. It is located on an elevated section of untouched dune on Long Bay,  Providenciales, with stunning views of the shallow waters of the Caicos Banks.

Our clients know every detail of their land, from the carefully maintained native planting to the diurnal wind patterns. Their previous home was destroyed in a hurricane, so they are equally mindful to building with respect to nature’s power, as well as nature’s beauty.

A meandering stone pathway from their previous home remains on the site. It is beautifully cut through the native planting on the dune’s leeward side, and carefully descends to the beach via a sinuously cut timber beach deck and kite store.

They swim in the ocean every day, and this journey is their morning ritual. The stepped route over the dune is a remarkable cinematic sequence that transitions from the shaded, intimate world of their garden, to the breezy, exposed and wild panorama of the beach.

Our primary design response has been to treat the dune, with its wind-pruned plants and stepped pathway, as the precious ‘archaeology’ of the site. We have honed a plan with an asymmetric ‘V’-shape that tethers against the dune at its outer tips, whilst providing access beneath at its centre.

This created a home of two halves: A sleeping wing, with master and guest bedrooms on one side, and a living wing, with kitchen/dining and lounge/study located on the other. The two wings are bisected by a covered breezeway with a staircase that connects with the existing pathway beneath.

Our second design move was to apply a simple undulating roof-form across the building's section, that worked in unison with the profile of the dune. The bedrooms share a more traditional ridge-roof between them, whilst the living wing spaces share a butterfly-roof, that is more open and uplifting.

These two key moves create a home that recedes on the sleeping side - providing shade, shelter and privacy, whilst it reaches upward and outward on the living side - with a ‘prow’ of enhanced height, light and prospect at the outermost tip.

An asymmetric ‘V’-shape plan, tethering against the dune at its outer tips, whilst providing access beneath at its centre.