Designed by: @merckxholvoetarchitects

Captured by: @cb

V Penthouse occupies the top floor of a new-build development in Duinbergen, directly above the beach, with uninterrupted views of the North Sea. The clients wanted a home where the pace of city life could be left at the door, without anything competing with the view or natural light. The project was approached through its materials, using a reduced palette of sandblasted Travertino Noce, sandy-toned lime plaster inspired by the North Sea, oak and Egyptian sandstone.

Each material is warm and matte, with subtle differences in tone that allow the interior to reveal itself gradually. The most sculptural element is the solid oak spiral staircase at the entrance. Sandblasted and bleached, its ribbed structure recalls a negative cast of the concrete formwork that inspired it, anchoring both levels of the apartment and establishing the character of the spaces that follow.

A curved travertine wall is built from individually sawn blocks, ensuring that no two panels repeat or mirror one another, while the washbasins are carved from single blocks of bush-hammered Egyptian sandstone. Much of the furniture, including a stainless steel and onyx marble pendant light and a mahogany table lamp, was designed specifically for the project. Other pieces include twentieth-century vintage ceramics by Gunnar Nylund and Carl-Harry Stålhane, a stool by Wharton Esherick, a chair by Pierre Chapo, and artworks by Andy Warhol, Imi Knoebel and Sol LeWitt.

The views were also carefully composed throughout the apartment. The living room opens fully onto the terrace and the sea, while a smaller breakfast nook at the rear is oriented toward the sky, with its parapet height deliberately screening the neighbouring rooftops. In the bathroom and shower, a private vertical window offers a direct view of the water, keeping the sea present even while bathing.