FORM / STUDIO

02 / 12Knokke, BelgiumResidential2026

House V

A long, low timber house among dunes with a dark row of pines behind it.

One storey, twenty-two metres, entirely below the line of the pines. Seen from the dune path it is a dark horizontal, and it should stay that way.

Location
Knokke, Belgium
Year
2026
Project type
Residential
Status
Completed
Surface area
168 m²
Scope
New build, landscape strategy, interiors
Landscape
Studio H. (fictional)
Timber engineering
Bureau W. (fictional)

Fictional project. Photographs are illustrative stock and do not show a building by FORM Studio.

Constraint

Building in the dune belt comes with a five-metre ridge limit and a protected row of pines on the seaward side. Rather than treat the limit as a loss, the house is stretched: every room is one room deep, every room faces the same way, and the roof is a single gable from end to end.

No tree was felled. The footprint moved twice during design to keep clear of the root zones, and the entrance sits where the second move left a gap.

D01SiteSite planIllustrative drawing
Site: illustrative site planIllustrative site plan showing the building in black among 3 neighbouring volumes, beside Dune road.Dune roadN010 m
A bedroom lined in oak with a corner window looking over water and wooded hills.
Fig. 1 Principal bedroom. The end wall is glazed; the view is the tidal inlet beyond the dunes.
D02Ground floorPlanIllustrative drawing
Ground floor: illustrative floor planIllustrative plan of about 22.20 by 7.40 metres containing Entrance, Living, Kitchen, Larder, Bedroom, Bathroom, Principal bedroom. The numbered key beside the drawing lists each room.12345673.008.004.003.603.6022.204.203.20AAN05 m
  1. 1Entrance21.0 m²
  2. 2Living57.4 m²
  3. 3Kitchen15.8 m²
  4. 4Larder12.0 m²
  5. 5Bedroom14.9 m²
  6. 6Bathroom10.0 m²
  7. 7Principal bedroom25.3 m²

Light

A long house can go dim along its spine. Two rooflights cut through the ridge above the living room and the corridor, and the oak is carried up through the opening so the light arrives warm rather than bright.

An oak-lined ceiling opening up to a narrow rooflight.
Fig. 2 Oak lining at the rooflight.
D03Section A–ASectionIllustrative drawing
Section A–A: illustrative sectionIllustrative section cut through the building, 4.5 metres to the highest point.Living+0.00+2.7005 m
A corner of weathered dark timber boards meeting a pale panel.
Fig. 3 Cladding at the corner, before weathering.
A close view of an oak post with a blurred doorway beyond.
Fig. 4 Larder door frame. A single post, oiled, at hand height.

Material schedule

  1. M01

    Dark timber

    External cladding, roof fascia

    Vertical boards of thermally modified ash. They will silver at the base first, where the salt and sand reach them.

  2. M02

    Oak

    Ceilings, bedroom linings

    The ceiling follows the gable, so the long room feels held rather than tall.