A RIBA award-winning contemporary home built for family life
Given that her working life revolves around food and cooking, the design of her new kitchen was always going to be a priority for Sam Head. As a freelance home economist, she collaborates closely with chefs such as James Martin on television shows and for cookery books, so her kitchen is in constant use; even on a week night, she is often preparing dinner for a dozen people at a time. So it is no surprise that the kitchen at Sam and Gary Head’s Berkshire newbuild, designed by architect Gregory Phillips, is semi-professional in character as well as being the hub of this family house.
‘I have worked in a lot of beautiful kitchens over the years, so I knew exactly what I wanted,’ says Sam. ‘The kitchen and the dining area alongside were important to all of us – with lots of space not just to cook but also to sit around the table together and have dinner. We have four children, but once you add some friends there might be 10 of us or more.’
The bespoke kitchen is part of an open-plan space that spills out onto the adjoining terrace and overlooks the back garden, where trees frame a view of the valley below. The centrepiece is the concrete island, designed around a Wolf range cooker and cast in situ. Sam and Gary also requested additional worktops and plenty of built-in storage; the tailored approach was just what they envisaged for the house as a whole.
‘If you want something that is exactly to your taste, you need to build from scratch,’ says Sam. ‘We have both been planning this for the past 10 years, so we had a clear brief in our minds – to build our dream family house here and make the most of the setting. The garden was always key.’
The site of the house, on a quiet road in a Berkshire village, used to belong to Gary’s parents. For many years, they lived here in a red-brick house dating from the Twenties, which had been extended in the Fifties. But the house was starting to fail them and the garden was too big to suit their needs. When Gary’s parents began to talk about downsizing, he and Sam asked if they could buy the house and garden with the aim of building something new.
‘I have always liked the idea of keeping it in the family, because it is such a beautiful plot of land,’ explains Gary, who is an insurance director. ‘We had been living round the corner for about 15 years, but we were looking for a change, more space and the chance to realize something that began as a pipe dream a long time ago.’
During a period when Gary was posted to the US for work, taking the family with him, his parents bought another property nearby and got ready for their move. Gary and Sam then began on the design process with Gregory. The architect had already built a striking modern house a few miles away, which the Heads went to see; this earlier project also revolved around connections between the house and garden.
‘It is a wonderful location because everything is in the right place,’ says Gregory. ‘It was all about taking the natural advantages of the site and making the most of them, while also blurring the boundaries between inside and out as much as we could. We wanted to make sure that the family could enjoy the views from the back of the house all year round.’
The new two-storey house, which is a RIBA South Award winner, is the soul of discretion as seen from the street, and is softened by the existing mature trees and new planting. The front façade is relatively enclosed, with a steel frame covered in characterful Danish Petersen bricks. Gregory planned a gradual process of discovery as you step through a porch area – created by a suspended concrete beam – and through the front door. From this more enclosed space, the house unfolds as you move into the central, double-height atrium and catch a first glimpse of the rear garden and the open vista through a six-metre-high wall of retractable, sliding glass.
This soaring space, which also accommodates the formal dining room, helps to divide the house into different zones both downstairs and up. On the ground floor, a more intimate sitting room has been created to one side, arranged around a brick hearth and chimneypiece. To the other side sits the open-plan kitchen, family dining area and sitting area, where the glass walls also slide back to connect the indoor space to the terrace. A separate den and study offer retreats from the more open parts of the building.
Upstairs, the atrium divides the children’s rooms on one side from the main bedroom on the other, while the landing transforms into a bridge as it crosses the void. The children’s rooms benefit from a long, timber balcony, which pushes out into the back garden to shelter and shade the spaces below. The main bedroom has a private balcony, made of red cedar, that gives the feel of a floating treehouse.
‘The balconies are like rooms in themselves and help the bedrooms to feel larger than they are,’ says Gregory. ‘This part of the house is on the sunny side and has the view of the garden, so you can enjoy the light for most of the day and most of the year.’
Heading down the garden, where Gary and Sam have also created a new vegetable patch, you look back at the house and see the two timber boxes that hold the balconies suspended among the walls of glass. Having carefully preserved the mature trees, the garden offers privacy and pleasure, perfectly complementing the Heads’ dream house, which they finally moved into in 2017.
‘What’s wonderful is that every room gets used,’ says Sam. ‘The children spend time in the den but we also have a study where we can all work or read at the same time. I love the sitting room, which is a quiet space with no television, but I also love my laundry room upstairs. We had a clear idea of how we wanted to live and that’s what we have – a house made for us’
Gregory Phillips Architects: 020-7724 3040; gregoryphillips.com
Michael Sinclair1/12This is one of two timber balconies that overlook the sloping garden behind the house. Mature trees create a sense of privacy.
Michael Sinclair2/12The distinctive Petersen bricks on the chimneypiece are softened by the serene neutral scheme, with modular seating and a coffee table from Natuzzi, and a rug from Bloomingdale’s. Sam envisaged this as a quiet space with no television and the pale furnishings help establish a calm mood.
Michael Sinclair3/12The versatile indoor space is tailored to Sam and Gary’s needs, serving as both a semi-professional kitchen and an informal area for family meals. A Bo Concept dining table and chairs mix well with bar stools from Griggs & Mackay at the island.
Michael Sinclair4/12A retractable glass wall slides back, giving access from the combined kitchen, dining and sitting area to the terrace, where a sun lounger from Natuzzi offers an inviting place to relax.
Michael Sinclair5/12Danish Petersen bricks provide an interesting textural contract with the locally made, bespoke wooden table and benches. An impressive six-metre-high glass wall offers views of the terrace and the garden beyond, blurring the boundaries between inside and out.
Michael Sinclair6/12On the ground floor of this double-height central space, large pendant lights from Garden Art Plus in Hungerford illuminate the formal dining area.
Michael Sinclair7/12At the top of this double-height space, architect Gregory Phillips devised a bridge to link the main bedroom with the children’s bedrooms.
Michael Sinclair8/12The bridge over the atrium leads to a landing with doors to the bedrooms.
Michael Sinclair9/12In the main bedroom, a hide from John Lewis contrasts with the whitened-ash floorboards and red cedar panelling.
Michael Sinclair10/12Ciaran Tully’s Snow NYC photograph of the Flatiron Building hangs at the end of the corridor.
Michael Sinclair11/12Estremoz Maroteira marble from GD Stones complements an ‘Olympia’ bath from Ashton & Bentley in the en-suite bathroom.
Michael Sinclair12/12Sheltered by one of the first-floor balconies, the sitting room offers an intimate retreat from more open spaces such as the atrium next door.
