Modernist home in UK conservation area celebrates nature
A rural house design by Scott Donald Architecture brings dark forms and modernist sophistication to a tree-filled site
![Winter House's external view within greenery](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gQC5ArJuAZ7putBnYYeM7N-415-80.jpg)
When a new client approached Scott Donald Architecture, they came with a rare opportunity; a residential design commission without a specific brief, leaving the style and size of the project completely open and up to the architects. The site, an acre of greenery filled with protected trees in a rural area of central England, made the perfect setting for a new, dramatic, modernist-inspired house design.
The project, set in the Rolleston on Dove Conservation Area, near Burton upon Trent, UK, spans 550 sq m across two floors. The ground level hosts living spaces and a fitness suite, while four bedrooms are located upstairs.
The internal arrangement was carefully planned, and the house was designed to be very extroverted, wrapped in glazing, especially on the ground floor, and connecting with the landscape and its architectural gardens at every turn. The elegant openings, provided by Sky-Frame, populate an otherwise fairly blank façade, which is minimalist and clad in dark render and black slate.
Inside, the house contains clean, modern interiors furnished tastefully and peppered with the owner's personal art collection. The exterior's dark materials are exchanged for lighter ones inside, giving the space a more gallery-like feel. A mezzanine games room adds more space for family entertaining, while giving an overview of the living spaces below.
The house is semi-concealed in the mature trees, but its driveway and garage can be seen from the street, peeking out of the greenery. The main entrance, featuring a door covered in black powder-coated metal, reveals little about what lies within, but hints at the design sophistication of the house. However, ‘the solid ground-bearing mass of the front elevation is in stark contrast to the design at the back’, say the architects.
‘We wanted the connectivity and views to the garden to be unencumbered. For there to be effectively nothing between inside and out. To achieve this we had to make sure there was no visible structure along this 25m glazed line. All of the structure is pulled deep into the plan – it’s out of sight, invisible.'
INFORMATION
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
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).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Tour the Natural History Museum’s new gardens, a Jurassic lark in London
The Natural History Museum in London has unveiled two new gardens, with resident dinosaurs, after a transformation led by architects Feilden Fowles
By Bridget Downing Published
-
Drama Republic moves into a colourful, handcrafted workspace in London
For the new creative HQ of production company Drama Republic, Emil Eve Architects remodels a warehouse into office space in London’s Holborn
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
Hideaway House in London features timber panelling inspired by the New York hospitality scene
The elegantly refurbished Hideaway House by Studio McW in London features timber panelling inspired by Philip Johnson’s The Four Seasons Restaurant
By Léa Teuscher Published
-
‘Modern Buildings’ tours south-east London through a guide to post-war Blackheath and Greenwich
‘Modern Buildings: Blackheath and Greenwich’ is a detailed survey of a London borough’s rich trove of new modernist architecture
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Triangle House invites you to its inner world of colourful surprises
Triangle House by Artefact is a private home in Epsom, outside London, combining Caribbean style, colour and functionality
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Tour the refreshed Saint Andrew Holborn: an icon reveals its crisp new interior in London
DaeWha Kang reimagines Saint Andrew Holborn church through a sensitive architectural solution that blends tradition and modernity in London
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A Suffolk house by Studio Bark pairs a fresh visual language with low-energy design
Suffolk house Water Farm is off-the-grid but defiantly on the map, a bold new object in the landscape with a strong visual impact and minimal carbon footprint
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Westminster Coroner's Court renovation delicately blends moments of softness and austerity
Westminster Coroner's Court gets a refresh and addition, courtesy of Lynch Architects and artist Brian Clarke
By Ellie Stathaki Published