Amento, Suffolk

2025 RIBA East Award 

House
James Gorst Architects, for Liz Goodrich and Peter Mavroghenis
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 250m²

The clients, whose children had moved out, purchased the field behind their previous period house in a small Suffolk village to build a futureproof, single-story dwelling that would work comfortably when it came to retirement. Yet they also wanted it not to look or feel at all like a typical bungalow. 

James Gorst Architects was recommended by the practice principal’s brother, who lives in the village. Their scheme builds upon a back catalogue of sensitive one-off country cottages, many dotted across East Anglia.

The design revolves around two dominating brick walls that run through the plan like spines, perpendicular to each other, appearing initially to form a standard cross shape. However, when viewed from above, a more complex arrangement emerges: the longer wall is in fact staggered, suggesting a pinwheel layout. 

These enormous spines are made of soft white clay bricks in lime mortar, a full 700mm wide and almost 5m tall. In the quadrants between the spine walls are timber lean-tos, each with its own domestic purpose. 

To the north-west and north-east are the quadrants for the family bedrooms and garage respectively, while the guestrooms are to the southeast, and the main dining and living spaces to the southwest. Here the interior aesthetic is at its most successful, giving off the calm and airy atmosphere of postwar Scandinavian architecture through its fair-faced brickwork, Douglas fir rafters, open-plan arrangement, and continuous full-height sliding doors opening onto a small patio.

There is a confident well-madeness about the place, from its cool concrete floors to the patterned-ply kitchen area enhanced with bursts of colour. Constructed mainly in wood and with an air-source heat pump, the project carries a low carbon footprint. At the corner of each quadrant’s roof are metal rain chains instead of downpipes, which feed rainwater into rectangular CorTen weathered steel tanks to help water a series of lawns around the house. 

Interspersed within the lawns are a maturing group of existing beech trees and well-spaced new trees which have been planted by the two work-at-home clients, who are keen gardeners. The sharpness of the brickwork will mellow in time, yet the house’s organising principles will endure.

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RIBA UK Awards 2025 sponsored by Autodesk, EH Smith, Equitone and VELUX