Winterbrook

In Wiltshire, Ken Shuttleworth, partner at the Foster design offices, has built a country house for himself and his family. Erected on a plan view made up of arcs, the house presents a closed and well-fortified front when approached from the drive. From the garden, by contrast, the house opens out in a grandiose gesture with a sweeping glass wall measuring 36 metres. In the words of the architect, the room onto the garden seems 'to explode into the open landscape'.

The room forming a continuous whole with the garden also accommodates all the activities of the family, from the kitchen at one end, through the dining area and seating arrangement with open fireplace, to the children's play-corner. The bath and bedrooms are grouped on the other side of the hallway, which also features a clerestory. The entrance is nestled between the prominently curved walls.

The room opening onto the garden is facing Southeast and therefore benefits from the morning sun, while also affording protection from the intensive light of midday. Its nocturnal atmosphere is given by illuminating with lens wallwashers fitted with PAR-lamps. Their warm light lends the wall an ethereal, almost immaterial quality.

In accordance with the extremely simplified style of the architecture, the designers have opted for integrated lighting throughout - whether this concerns the direct lighting of the dinning table using one downlight, or the 'welcome mat' feature in the outdoor area around the entrance.