A fresh, thoughtful take on country house living in rural Suffolk
Amento is a house with such a simple design gesture at its heart that you can imagine the first concept sketch being scribbled on a napkin – as many of the best ideas are. But this belies the rigour of its design and execution. Two perpendicular brick walls intersect to form a broken cruciform that reaches out into a wildflower meadow, while four rectangular, timber-framed living areas nestle discreetly into the negative spaces, sheltered from the elements. The result is an artful blend of boldness and subtlety.
While the reality of the Suffolk village house’s conception was an iterative process for James Gorst Architects and owners Liz Goodrich and Peter Mavroghenis, simplicity is what the couple craved. They had raised their two children in the Arts and Crafts-style house next door, but with their youngest due to leave for university, when the adjacent plot of land came up for sale, they felt the urge to downsize.
‘We were tired of climbing stairs,’ says Liz, relaxing on a curved metal ‘Swan’ chair from Munder Skiles on the terrace (she runs the American outdoor furniture company’s European operations). ‘We wanted a house on one level that would be energy efficient and future proofed, so we could stay in it forever. It needed to feel like part of the garden and require little mainten-ance. And we didn’t want to be filling an oil tank every few months.’
James Gorst Architects has found rich creative expression in the purity of Amento’s geometry. ‘We imagined the house as an inhabited ruin, as if the two walls were found in the landscape, then occupied by these simple monopitch shelters,’ says James. He mentions the 17th-century houses built into the ruins of Bury St Edmunds Abbey as an influence. ‘I’m interested in a building as a palimpsest of time.’
Despite its restraint, Amento is finely detailed, inside and out, with the house winning the 2024 RIBA Suffolk Craftsmanship Award and a 2025 RIBA East Award. The verticality of the external Siberian larch cladding offsets the horizontal lines of the pale clay brick, creating a rhythm, while internally the moiré patterning of the Douglas fir veneer on the walls adds richness to an austere palette of polished concrete flooring and exposed brick walls. This serene earthiness is occasionally punctuated by a burst of colour, such as the vivid blue corridor to the children’s bedrooms or the citrus tones lining the kitchen cabinets.
The thick, white clay brick walls rise up to the canopy of the surrounding trees and stretch out beyond the modest monopitch living quadrants. Their high thermal mass provides free summer cooling and helps to maintain a constant temperature indoors through the winter months, while also offering wind protection. ‘During a storm, we could hear our old house rattling, but here we don’t hear a thing,’ notes Peter, a shipping lawyer.
By contrast, the quadrants have a lightweight timber frame made from exposed Douglas fir, eliminating the need for structural steel in the house (which is powered by an air-source heat pump and designed with Passive House principles to minimise energy demand) and also saving embodied carbon. Large eaves further protect the living spaces from sun and rain. Each quadrant has its own function: the north-western one holds the main bedroom, bathroom and study-cum snug; the large south-western one an open-plan kitchen, sitting and dining room; the children’s bedrooms and shower rooms are in the south-eastern section; and the garage, plant room and utility room in the north-eastern one. Sliding pocket doors within the brick walls conceal and reveal, recalling Le Corbusier’s concept of the ‘promenade architecturale’, in which sequences of spaces expand and contract, creating a journey and a sense of surprise.
The simplicity of the materials will give the house longevity. ‘I didn’t want to keep redecorating every 10 years,’ explains Liz. Project architect David Roy rigorously researched them to minimise maintenance requirements, and planned services and fittings that would need only low-skill management and repair.
When the couple sold their previous house, they parted ways with its antique furniture, save for their Hans J Wegner ‘Wishbone’ dining chairs. Starting afresh at Amento proved to be cathartic – ‘it was like shedding our skin,’ says Liz. The first piece she bought for the house was the kidney shaped desk by Josef Frank from Svenskt Tenn, which wraps round Peter as he sits by a window in the study overlooking the garden. David helped them to source other furniture suited to the house’s modern lines, such as Philipp Mainzer’s ‘Sloane’ table from E15 and the ‘Bel Air’ sofa by Claesson Koivisto Rune for Arflex. Liz’s favourite piece is an inbuilt bench that spans the sitting room wall, acting as a window seat on which she drinks her coffee each morning.
The extension of the axial walls into the garden, designed by Charlie Hawkes (who won a House & Garden Rising Star award in 2022), gives each quadrant its own particular outlook, while creating the impression that the house is reaching out its arms to the landscape. Deep portal openings allow easy passage through the building.
‘My starting point was to soften the contact between the house and the landscape, and to balance the angularity of the structure,’ explains Charlie, who sourced a thoughtful selection of drought tolerant plants from Arvensis Perennials in Wiltshire. Evergreen euphorbias and pheasant’s tail grass blur hard edges, while wildflower meadows relax the garden’s formality. Outside each of the children’s bedrooms stands a cloud-pruned Pinus nigra. ‘At sunrise, they cast beautiful shadows on the walls,’ he observes.
For James, Amento was a chance to distil a home down to its bare essentials in terms of materials, form and energy requirements. ‘I see domestic architecture as the crucible of experimentation,’ says James, who has designed several chapels as well as houses in the UK and beyond. Amento has some of the same serenity, while being a temple to simple, sustainable living within the landscape.
Eco credentials
To design a new house to comply with RIBA's 2030 Climate Challenge targets, with longevity and climate change in mind.
Amento was built on Passive Design principles to reduce energy demand, using materials that will require only minimal maintenance for at least 50 years. Orientated on a north-south axis, the house has deep. brick walls and eaves that protect the façade from the elements and reduce overheating in summer. Its entirely timber frame avoids the use of structural steel.
Heating is via an air-source heat pump. Rain and surface run-off water are collected in butts and tanks for garden use
James Gorst Architects: jamesgorstarchitects.com | Charlie Hawkes Landscape Design: charliehawkes.co.uk
Dean Hearne1/7Hommetry’s ‘Mint’ lamp tones with a Nanimarquina rug in the hall.
Dean Hearne2/7In the bathroom, Grestec tiles and Duravit’s ‘Starck 3’ basin keep it simple.
Dean Hearne3/7Douglas fir panelling sets off a Natural Bed Company ‘Shetland’ bed with a headboard in Moon’s ‘Parquet’ wool in chestnut, a Pierre Frey linen throw and a striped quilt by Caroline Marcq in Mark Alexander’s ‘Polo’ linen. Pinch’s ‘Pium’ wall light sits above a ‘Material’ lamp by Nørgaard & Kechayas from New Works. Nanimarquina rugs link the space with the dressing room and study beyond.
Dean Hearne4/7Looking from the drive to the main bedroom, where a Cercis silaquastrum blossoms beside the window.
Dean Hearne5/7
Dean Hearne6/7Munder-Skiles’ ‘Swan’ lounge chairs and ottoman in sweden green complement a terrace in Bannold’s volcanic beige ‘Indian Porcelain’, which adjoins the living space; the Corten steel tank collects rainwater.
Dean Hearne7/7Wide eaves protect the larch cladding; the ‘Em’ planters are by Atelier Vierkant.
