Alain de Botton & Living Architecture Rethink The English Countryside

Acclaimed Swiss author Alain de Botton is known, as a recent New Yorker article notes, for his “attempt to bring serious ideas to a mainstream audience.” Though this attempt is usually carried out via the printed word, de Botton has recently expanded his reach, co-founding and taking the helm as Creative Director of a new non-profit called Living Architecture.

Commissioning renowned modern architects to build vacation rentals along the English countryside, Living Architecture has set out to revolutionize both architecture and UK holiday rentals. The structures are far from the prim cottages that come to mind when one thinks of a Suffolk vacation:

The inspiration for Living Architecture came from a desire for people to be able to experience what it is like to live, eat and sleep in a space designed by an outstanding architectural practice. Whilst there are examples of great modern buildings in Britain, they tend to be in places that one passes through (eg. airports, museums, offices), and the few modern houses that exist are almost all in private hands and cannot be visited.

Furthermore, the projects seek to confront and grapple with the fear and nostalgia that we associate with different styles of architecture. The organization’s Suffolk, England structure The Balancing Barn, which we’ve covered before, cantilevers on the hill on which its built and confronts the safety and calm that we associate with the home.Though Balancing Barn’s shape is typical of North American barns, the vacation rental is metallic-tile clad and seems as if it is balancing by a hair on its grassy knoll. In a video, a principal from MVRDV—the firm that designed the Barn—says that these off-setting traits were completely intentional. He explains that the firm wanted to suspend the building at the exact moment at which it felt most unsafe and exciting, also noting that the cantilevering creates even more facades that can be played with. In this instance, a swing hangs from the underside of the building.

Living Architecture, as a whole, hopes to investigate and ease people’s fear of the modern while offering vacations at a reasonable price point:

We see ourselves first and foremost as an educational body, dedicated to enhancing the appreciation of architecture. But we also hope that you will have an exceptional holiday with us. We are making available a standard of house unusual for the UK rental market (where the ancient cottage has until now been the norm), with the best of contemporary materials and technologies. Our houses are all in fascinating locations and have been meticulously designed for comfort and aesthetic delight (with prices starting from just £20 per person per night).

Living Architecture