Dissolves the boundaries between outside and in
Gregory Phillips Architects for private client
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 1,535 m²
Heir to an English tradition of grand country homes, this family house reinterprets the genre in a modern idiom. The symmetrical wings of the historic manor house archetype are disassembled as four separate two-storey pavilions that extend into the landscape in pin-wheel formation from a central hall. This simple concept draws the building and its gardens together, as well as allowing each pavilion to accommodate different activities, from home gym and swimming pool in one to living-dining in another.
This pattern is repeated on the upper floor where bedrooms form clusters for the master suite, children and guests. Generous balconies combine with large, opening window walls at ground level to provide plenty of outdoor access, further dissolving the boundaries between the outside and inside. Even on a grey day, the quality of daylighting inside the house and its level of openness imbue it with a quality of ‘California-living’ that many modern houses in England aspire to – though there are few that achieve it with such panache.
See other winners in the RIBA Regional Awards - West Midlands