Living Architecture Houses, Contemporary Suffolk Property, England Building, Design Image
Living Architecture : Suffolk Property
Residential Development in south east England, Contemporary UK Houses
Living Architecture Property
Living Architecture has asked a series of established and emerging world-class architects to build houses around the UK. The houses will be available to rent for holidays by the general public.
The inspiration for Living Architecture came from a desire for people to be able to experience what it is like to live, eat and sleep in a space designed by an outstanding architectural practice. Whilst there are examples of great modern buildings in Britain, they tend to be in places that one passes through (eg. airports, museums, offices), and the few modern houses that exist are almost all in private hands and cannot be visited.
Living Architecture : Scheduled completions
What would it be like to sleep in a house designed by an outstanding contemporary architect? In an attempt to enhance the appreciation of architecture, Living Architecture has invited a series of world-class architects to create houses around the UK that are available for short rents.
The schedule for completion of the houses is as follows and bookings can now be made on the Living Architecture website:
– The Balancing Barn in Thorington, Suffolk, designed by MVRDV (the
Netherlands). Available to rent from 22 October 2010.
– The Shingle House in Dungeness, Kent, designed by Nord Architecture
(UK). Available to rent from 29 October 2010.
– The Dune House in Thorpeness, Suffolk, designed by Jarmund/Vigsnæs
Architects (Norway). Available to rent from 21 January 2011.
– The Long House in Cockthorpe, Norfolk, designed by Hopkins Architects
(UK). Due to complete March 2011.
– The Secular Retreat in South Devon, designed by Peter Zumthor
(Switzerland). Due to complete Winter 2011.
Living Architecture aim to continue the project by building one house a year into the future.
Living Architecture houses – Five Designs
The Balancing Barn – MVRDV
The Long House – Hopkins Architects
Shingle House – NORD Architecture
Dune House – Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects
A Secular Retreat – Peter Zumthor
Living Architecture houses in more detail
The Balancing Barn
Architect: MVRDV
image from Living Architecture
MVRDV are a highly acclaimed Dutch practice that combine an interest in theory and research with building sustainable, challenging and often playful architecture. Among their most acclaimed works are the Dutch Pavilion at the Hanover World Expo 2000, the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam and a housing development in Ypenburg outside the Hague. For Living Architecture, MVRDV have set out to create a house sympathetic in spirit and materials to the complex history of an outstanding natural site.
The Long House
Architect: Hopkins Architects
image from Living Architecture
Michael and Patty Hopkins have been responsible for a series of award-winning buildings that cleverly reconnect high modernism with its roots in British industrial craftsmanship and tradition. Buildings like the Glyndebourne Opera House in East Sussex and the Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham have shown the way to an architecture that understands the past while making the best use of contemporary technologies. For Living Architecture, Hopkins Architects have created a house singularly responsive to local materials and vernacular forms – and inspired by the best lessons of Modernism.
Shingle House
Architect: NORD Architecture
image from Living Architecture
NORD Architecture are a young Glasgow based practice, established for only five years, but who have swiftly created an outstanding set of buildings. They are interested in the tactile qualities of architecture and in finding simple and elegant solutions to complex problems. The site in Kent which they are responsible for is highly challenging, with fierce winds and an unstable shingle bed. The house they are building will be covered in a black tarred shingles typical of the area and in its interior will feature an astonishing geometry of concrete and timber.
Dune House
Architects: Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects
image from Living Architecture
Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects are a young Norwegian practice responsible for building a series of highly accomplished modestly-priced houses in Oslo and its outskirts. They have experimented with materials like copper and zinc – as well as in a variety of painted timber surfaces. For Living Architecture, they have created a building with a complicated roof geometry, which fits into a traditional British seaside strip of houses with exceptional grace and intelligence.
A Secular Retreat
Architect: Peter Zumthor
image from Living Architecture
Peter Zumthor is frequently described as the greatest architect at work in the world today, and has recently been awarded the internationally prestigious Pritzker Prize. He is famous for his baths at Vals in Switzerland, as well as for his Bruder Chapel outside Cologne in Germany and his Kolumba Museum in Cologne itself. He is a master of craftsmanship, and an expert in the use of natural materials, which gives his buildings an eternal quality. For Living Architecture, Zumthor is designing his first project in the UK – a hill-top retreat, to which people will be able to go for periods of sustained work and reflection.
For enquiries contact [email protected]
Living Architecture house – MVRDV present Balancing Barn, Suffolk, England
image from Living Architecture
Location: England, UK
Living Architecture UK
The Living Architecture team comprises of chairman, Dickon Robinson, director, Mark Robinson and executive architect, Meredith Bowles (Mole Architects). The advisory team are Stuart Lipton, property developer, ex chairman CABE; Tom Bloxham, chairman of Urban Splash; Ambassador Alexis Lautenberg, Swiss ambassador to the UK; Michael Morris, co-director of Artangel; Alain de Botton, writer and architectural critic and Peter Rogers, director of Stanhope.
Balancing Barn Suffolk image / information from MVRDV
Website: Architectural Walking Tours
Comments / photos for the Balancing Barn England Architecture page welcome
Website: www.living-architecture.co.uk
