Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber’s Le Corbusier inspired modern family home
We bought a plot of land on which stood a very old house. We wanted to knock the old house down and build new. This sounds pretty straightforward until you start looking at the designs of new houses. We probably had five or six architects design us a house. We’re not talking about a big house we are talking about four/five-bedrooms. We just wanted something modern, practical, something a little bit different, something a bit interesting. Anyway, five architects later we still hadn’t found anything remotely interesting in our design for a house and we happened to be sitting with a friend for dinner. He was talking about a new village he wanted to build with sustainable housing - something a bit different, with interesting architecture and he was singing the praises of Baufritz and their designers and the quality of the build.
There were a number of challenges constructing a new build in rural Hampshire. Tradition had to be respected to blend into the surroundings, while the design had to inspire. Planning constraints meant that roof line and building foot print were fixed and the planners were not going to accept a modern box on site.
We had one meeting with the Baufritz architect. He had the brief from my husband who is passionate about the designs of Le Corbusier the Swiss-French architect, designer, urban planner and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. This would require something a bit different something angular, something that was not altogether normal, it had to fit in with the Hampshire landscape and it had to have a bit of flint on it. He went away and came back with an amazing design that we immediately liked and really from his initial design to what was built there were only tweaks and not much else. Baufritz absolutely nailed it straight away. The house’s design is unique, a combination of locally prevalent traditional materials and sustainable modern construction methods which creates an attractive and sustainable dwelling. The use of flint cladding and small windows within the walls provides a contrast to the timber cladding and glazing of the central gable and entrance.
I went to the Baufritz design centre to choose all the fixtures and fittings and it was very very efficiently done. I spent a day a day and a half there. I had forgotten how many choices and decisions you have to make, down to the skirting board, door handles, to the taps. As soon as you have 5 bathrooms you’ve got tons of taps to choose. Anyway, it was very efficient, really well done. All the fixtures and fittings were of fantastic quality and pretty much I think I made all the right choices. We made some radical choices we turned a laundry room into another bathroom, but it wasn’t too late as they hadn’t started constructing the house and changes were allowed. I looked around the factory which was incredible, absolutely unbelievable and the quality of the materials again was staggering, so it’s actually really good fun. I would advise anyone doing a Baufritz house to get to Germany and look at the production line and look at all of the materials on site. The completed house is so functional and our friends who live there are having a wonderful time, they just love the house. With five bedrooms and bathrooms and open plan living, the house is so easy and comfortable. Floor to ceiling glass accentuates the wonderful rural surrounding, allowing abundant natural light and seamless inside outside interaction.
I think that sustainability is a big selling point these days, it has to be at the top of the list, and for Baufritz the more they can do there the better. The household bills have gone down enormously. The house is not solar, it is just that it is more efficient, because its effectively sealed so you’re not losing heat, the heat is circulated. You’ve got underfloor heating and a heat pump as well, it’s purely just more efficient, that’s the big selling point.
From the point of view of our experience of Baufritz, you know we are obviously doing the very top end so we cannot really talk about the mass-market. I think I’m making the point that actually Baufritz can do something really interesting architecturally, with their modular form of construction. The way they build houses in the factory is the interesting thing and I think it would surprise a lot of people that they can do something that is really pushing the boundaries on the architectural side.
Flint cladding