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10 beach houses, from hidden gems to famous architectures

Seaside homes are the manifesto of building with respect for nature and local culture, discovering a peace that blends with utopia.

If in the collective unconscious a beach is the image of the desired vacation, of that well-being and sociability chased for months, the idea of spectacular architectures built directly on the sea – beaches or cliffs don't matter, as long as there are only a few steps between the waves and the sofa – has over the years taken the value of a mirage. Rare and famous episodes, where different celebrated or emerging architects, often in satisfaction of wealthy patrons in search of a buen retiro, have embedded contemporary architectures within landscapes dreamed of by most: architectures in dialogue with the landscape, often characterized by fluid and informal spaces in an unbroken continuity between outside and inside, where the sand invading the domestic realm sometimes becomes a design element.

In spite of the formal and conceptual diversity of the works, from the sober and essential geometries (Studio Saxe, Studio Marco Ciarlo Associati) and at times brutalist (Boeri, Ando), to the rough (Gifford) and organic ones (Asher), passing through the revisitations of vernacular architecture (Herbst Architects, António Costa Lima Arquitectos, anonimous, RIMA Design Group), the common denominator is always the same: architecture as a tool to reconnect life more closely to nature and human rhythms, finding s its foundation in simple sensations, such as walking on sand.

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