Toes in the Sand >> Casa Areia

Portuguese firm Aires Mateus unveiled these sand-floored houses at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale.  This is one of those where your first thought is, "How has no one thought of this before?  How fun to have a beach house with sand floors!"

My next thought was, "Except, you would ALWAYS have sand in your bed... Ick."  Not to fear, they have put the bedrooms in separate little structures (in above photo, white buildings are bedrooms, thatched is living room) that look beyond tidy and sand-less, although I don't know how you'd keep it that way.

But my doubts continued and my next thought was, "How does electrical and plumbing work in this building??  How is the foundation solid??  Doesn't the old proverb start, 'Do not build your house on the sand?'"  

Then I decided not to look a gift-horse in the mouth...  

...I'd rather keep the daydream alive of one day having a sand-floored beach house.

[Aires Mateus]
[Dezeen]