The Local Project (April 30, 2024): For an architects own home, Mark Motonaga, homeowner and creative director at RIOS pulled together a range of design elements that makes his home feel safe yet joyous. Located in Los Angeles, Modern Bungalow was once an original single-family residence.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Architects Own Home 00:41 – The Original Vision 01:35 – A Walkthrough of the Home 02:22 – Designing Your Own Home 03:32 – Ideating the Backyard Landscape 04:12 – Proud Aspects
From the start of the project, the architect envisioned a modern home that could fit the scale of the original structure while reimagining what a bungalow could be. By creating a jungle-like refuge in the back of the house, RIOS has established a juxtaposition to living in a city.
To do this, the architect reversed the typical bungalow layout by putting the public spaces at the rear of the house and the private spaces to the front. Moreover, featured in the backyard is a pool, which is different to the traditional backyard pools often designed in the city.
Built to feel like people were swimming in a pond, it is complemented with a jungle-inspired garden that grows right up to the edge. At the beginning of the house tour, two large grey doors open up to a side courtyard referred to as the home’s foyer.
Kate Green and Agnes Stamp take a geological tour of our islands to dig out what makes them special; granite country, chalk downland, The Fens, Wealden clay, Welsh slate, Yorkshire mill-stone grit, The Highlands and Cotswold limestone
Matthew Rice sketches the myriad architectural styles
Mark Diacono rubs the soil between his fingers
Victoria Marston wraps her tongue around dialects
Harry Pearson downs a pint or three of local ale
And finally, the ultimate quiz
Et in Arcadia ego
For Constable, the countryside was a lover, for Samuel Palmer, it offered an escape from the real world and for Paul Nash it held an inescapable lure. Michael Prodger examines the effect of British landscapes on art
The Duchess of Marlborough’s favourite painting
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Let us now praise the Nanny State
We should embrace Mary Poppins-esque common sense, believes Carla Carlisle
The legacy
Kate Green salutes the 10th Duke of Beaufort on the eve of the Badminton Horse Trials that set British riders on their gallop to three-day-eventing victory
Cometh the ice men
Don’t cast those jumpers out just yet, advises Lia Leendertz
Interiors
Get ready for the warmer weather with Amelia Thorpe’s pick of outdoor furniture
London Life
Royal photographs
All you need to know about cloth, cheese and Trafalgar Square
Jack Watkins tells the tale of Covent Garden
Adam Hay-Nicholls relishes the roar of engines in Savile Row
Up hill and down dale
Kathryn Bradley-Hole finds that formality is leavened by verve and personality in the gardens of Dalemain at Penrith, Cumbria, where the blue poppies bloom
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson gathers bunches of fresh watercress
Native herbs
Unmistakeable in scent, versatile in use, wild garlic is a forager’s dream, but don’t let dairy cows graze it, warns Ian Morton
Travel
Mark Hedges escapes to our nearest paradise, the Isles of Scilly
Tom Parker Bowles feasts on a proper club sandwich
Pamela Goodman dares to swim the Dordogne
The good stuff
Hetty Lintell takes her time choosing the latest wonderful watches unveiled in Geneva
The Local Project (April 26, 2024): Nestled on the beach in one of Australia’s most serene coastal enclaves, Border Street is an expensive home and eloquent response to the pristine Byron Bay environment where it resides. Artfully conceived by Workroom, the residence shuts out the rest of the world in its contemplation of place, form and materials.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to Byron Bay’s Most Expensive Home 01:00 – A Unique Location 01:35 – A Walkthrough of the Home 02:23 – Framing the Surrounding Landscape 03:01 – The Opportunities and Constraints of the Site 04:16 – The Material Palette 05:22 – Workroom’s Design Approach
“I like the sense of calm that you feel when you walk into the house; it’s not busy, it’s not loud, it’s not contrived either – it’s very relaxed,” says John Bornas, architect and creative director at Workroom. Perched on a dune hugging a rainforest that falls straight onto Belongil Beach in Byron Bay, the expensive home taps into Byron Bay’s breezy state of slumber without neglecting a sense of refinement. From the street, the house is concealed by a series of screens. “The idea was to try and create a sense of wonder; you don’t really know what’s going on behind that screen,” notes John.
Walking through the front gate, there is a substantial walk to the front door, allowing one to really experience the landscape the home is set in, rather than “just simply walking through a front door,” says John. One then enters the main living and dining areas, which are bounded by the pavilions that open up to the dune and the rainforest. As with many expensive homes, designing it was not without challenges.
The Local Project (April 23, 2024): Deeply connected to place, Brahminy House by Harley Graham Architects is located in Wategos Beach, Byron Bay, Australia. Tucked back into the land, the beachside house creates a feeling of connectedness to its surrounds while also offering the owners a home filled with tranquility.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Waterfront House 01:05 – Designing with Intention 01:21 – A Walkthrough of the House 02:53 – Framing the Landscape 03:21 – A Robust and Sturdy Material Palette 04:30 – Proud Moments
Looking at the external form, the architect thought of creating a house as a sculpture within the landscape and wanted to be sure that every curve, material and element was intentional. Following the house tour, a casual entry is revealed. Placed under a concrete form with plants cascading out of it, the entry also holds an outdoor shower made from local basalt stone. Used for washing the surfboard or oneself after a swim, the casual entrance sets the tone for the home’s laid-back character. As the house tour continues up the Italian terracotta tiled stairs and through to the side entry and pool, the beach house reveals its sculptural forms, curves and charm.
Additionally, due to being built into the hill and jungle, the beach house is complemented by greenery that cascades over the shapes of the exterior architecture. Once inside, the communal spaces such as the kitchen, living and dining areas encourage the owners to pursue a deeper connection not just to the landscape but to each other. For open-plan spaces, Harley Graham Architects tries to differentiate the areas by introducing varying floor or roof heights. As such, Brahminy House’s living area has been given a pop-up ceiling that infuses a different atmosphere to the other areas.
The Local Project (April 19, 2024) – Creating a place for people to reconnect with each other and nature, Patterson Associates built a cabin that sits upon the New Zealand landscape with advantageous coastal views. Located on a working sheep and cattle farm on the Banks Peninsula, Scrubby Bay is extremely remote.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Remote Cabin 01:16 – The History of the Landscape 02:13 – An Insight into the Design Inspiration 03:02 – The Layout of the Cabin 03:57 – Approaching the Bay 05:02 – The Respectful Construction Process 05:30 – A Robust Material Palette 06:31 – The Functionalities of the Cabin 07:23 – A Sustainable Approach to the Build
The cabin home is architectural in its design and faces straight into the sub-Antarctic weather that comes in from the bay and down the mountains. Moreso, due to the home’s location, there is a wide variety of wildlife, including an array of birds, dolphins and whales. Faced with the decision of what to design and how to design it, the architect was drawn to building a residence that responded to the site. Moreover, seen in the house tour of the cabin is the bay, which tends to be covered in driftwood.
This helped influence the architect on choosing the unique materials and timber for the project. Designed to age and get better with time, Scrubby Bay is laid out as two simple gabled barn forms that are slotted together. Specifically arranged for families or large groups renting off Airbnb, the house can accommodate up to 16 people and encourages them to come together and experience the natural landscape. Three main bedrooms have been created for the adults and spread throughout the gabled form of the home. Additionally, seen in the house tour, at each side of the home are two gathering areas, one being an entertainment deck facing the ocean and the other is a pool facing the rear mountains.
The reawakening of Nature has inspired artists from Botticelli to David Hockney and beyond. Michael Prodger revels in the artistic beauty of the season
Prepare to be a-maze-d
Few can match the twists and turns of Adrian Fisher’s stellar career. Deborah Nicholls-Lee meets the maze designer behind the chilling climax of Saltburn
London Life
Tianna Williams visits a Scottish corner of the capital
Need to Know has all the latest happenings
William Sitwell welcomes back the big business lunch
Richard MacKichan joins the Noisenights crowd
The icing on Nature’s cake
Poet Laureate Simon Armitage celebrates an annual explosion of pink and white blossom with excerpts from his new book
The legacy
Kate Green on how Sir Joseph Banks sowed the seeds of Kew
Leading by example
In the second of two articles, John Goodall puts the spotlight on the superb school buildings of Lancing College, West Sussex
Little April showers
Discover why a thunderous start to the month suggests a good harvest as Lia Leendertz delves into the weather lore of spring
Interiors
Green is the natural choice for a kitchen, as Amelia Thorpe and Arabella Youens discover
A garden from scratch
Caroline Donald marvels at the rapid transformation of the charming seven-acre garden at Charlton Farm in Wiltshire
Kitchen garden cook
Melanie Johnson puts British asparagus — a verdant harbinger of spring — back on the menu
Travel
Camilla Hewitt raises a glass to Cognac
Richard MacKichan explores the Alps in summer
Hetty Lintell falls in love with Mallorca
Pamela Goodman is in awe of the Alhambra
Gen Sir James Everard’s favourite painting
The president of the Army Bene-volent Fund chooses a wonderful depiction of the Battle of Waterloo
Déjà vu all over again
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Get the London look
Matthew Dennison charts the rise and fall of fashion label Biba
The good stuff
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The Local Project (March 26, 2024) – Located in Box Hill, Victoria, Naples Street House is a tiny brick home. One of the owners is a keen dancer and consequently, the home sets the scene for a harmonious performance with rooms and outward connections to the landscape.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Tiny Brick Home 00:32 – The Location and The Brief 01:29 – A Walkthrough of the Home 02:52 – Creating A Sanctuary 03:45 – The Conceptualisation Process 04:10 – A Focus on the Kitchen 05:17 – The Material Palette 05:59 – Exciting Aspects
The house tour illustrates how this tiny brick home occupies a small footprint on its site, embracing an intimate relationship with the landscape. In a suburb where interwar-era houses are slowly disappearing, the home, which sits alongside narrow townhouses, provides the street with an unconventional visual intervention – an outcome driven by the clients’ aspirations. For architect Kim Bridgland, director of Edition Office, this tiny brick home offers sanctuary. “The house is located within a dense suburban street and is designed to focus inwards, around an inner courtyard garden room,” he explains.
The courtyard house typology stemmed from the brief for a multigenerational home. Exploring the type of design, decor and floor plan suitable for such occupancy led the team to a design that separates the home’s spaces in a way that allows them to remain visually connected through an inner garden room yet hidden from public sight, as depicted in the house tour. An axial hallway connects sightlines from the front entry to the rear garden and splits the living areas from the bedrooms and bathrooms while leading to a north-facing living, kitchen and dining space. Further into the dwelling is the central garden room and a secluded lounge with fully glazed walls that open to the landscape.
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