Experimental UK home design's new iteration: Housestead

homestead as seen from the air, a cruciform experimental UK home among leafy countryside

(Image credit: Peter Landers Photography)

This experimental UK home was designed as a ‘laboratory for a living prototype’. Housestead, designed by Sanei + Hopkins (and also owned by the couple, who are partners in work and life), was conceived as the personal residence of studio co-founders Amir Sanei and Abigail Hopkins, and their family of seven. The project is idyllically set within the Suffolk Coast & Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), situated within the grounds of a generous, 400-acre estate.

Step inside Housestead, an experimental UK home by Sanei + Hopkins

The architecture duo addressed their home’s design as a case study to advance ‘sustainable rural design and regenerative architecture’. They explain: ‘At the heart of Housestead is an experiment in spatial deconstruction – breaking apart the conventional house into four elemental wings to test how architecture can promote autonomy, congregation, connection to nature, and low-impact living in the English countryside.’

The result intends to ‘reinvent’ the traditional English farmstead, its cruciform cluster of four volumes set within a neglected grove of non-indigenous birch trees. The complex feels crisp and geometric, but at the same time playful and permeable – setting life within it in constant dialogue with its surroundings.

The green setting is invited in at every turn, as the architects, who describe their home as ‘purposefully extraverted’, explain: ‘The house is not imposed on the land but grown from it – aligned to the sun, shaped by the wind, and nested within a recovering woodland that it helps to restore.’

The building's discreet blocks are clearly defined and each houses a different function. There is a thatched roof, fully glazed south-facing 'Living' block; a 'Sleeping' block to the east, which the architects describe as a 'habitable greenhouse’; a 'Working' block to the west, where the pair's studio is located, alongside a separate, elevated study; and a north facing 'Utility' block with its round, 'moongate' entrance.

Carving their living spaces with care, having lived elsewhere on the estate for a long time and defined their needs of both their own family, and the land, the architects crafted a design that responded to both.

Areas in between these volumes and functions act as breathing spaces and open-air lobbies, including a main courtyard. The sprawling nature of the complex and these al-fresco ‘connectors’ ensure residents experience rural living first hand every day – breathing, feeling and sensing the surrounding nature while walking through the home.

Hopkins says: ‘Based on 15 years of observed family life in the estate’s annexe, where outdoor movement between buildings was integral, we embraced the freedom of being always outdoors. Housestead honours this lived experience, allowing buildings and people alike to breathe, connect, and adapt.’

The thoughtful house design is a living experiment, but also a joyful family home, built for daily life. Sanei and Hopkins say: ‘Joy emerges from the way light moves through each courtyard and threshold, the shifting relationships between inside and out, and the sense of quiet resilience built into every material and moment.’

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).