leeMundwiler

The site is located at the highpoint of an ancient sand dune, eight blocks away from the Pacific Ocean. Piles of sand from excavation are transformed into building material on-site. The sand was cleaned and filled in one pocket of dual-chamber polycarbonate where the second pocket is left filled with air.

This mundane yet durable agri-industrial material, filled with sand and air is a low-tech building façade for the house of sand. Realizing that sand has a remarkable thermal quality to absorb and contain solar heat, our intent was to utilize inherent benefits of earth and nature in order to minimize energy and building material consumption.

Energy collected by the sand-filled chamber is ventilated outward through the hollow second chamber of the polycarbonate before entering the structure . This reflects approximately 30% reduction in energy use for cooling over ASHRAE 90.2 baseline.

Bundesplatz - Government plaza in Bern, Switzerland designed by leeMundwiler architects. 

The project was unveiled on 1 August 2004 during the Swss National Day celebration. It is awarded with AIA National Honor Award for Urban Design | AIA California Chapter Merit Award for Urban Design | Nominated for 10 Best Projects in Switzerland.

Light tunnel installation by Dan Flavin 

LOK kunstmuseum st. gallen 

Anthony McCall at the LOK KunstMuseum St. Gallen 

Coconut House by leeMundwiler architects 

2006 AIA National Housing Award 

Dapeng Geology Museum and Research Center in Shenzhen, China

- by leeMundwiler architects