100 Country Houses by Beth Browne brings is the amalgamation of the best country homes around the different countries featuring a wide range of projects from traditional with a little twist of contemporary touch with the spaces. Every project emphasizes a shift towards forward-thinking design. Every project mentioned actively contributes to sustainability and actively delivers in a responsive and relevant way with the land.
Whereas Beth Browne is a writer known for her creative nonfiction and poetry and many of the books have been published in the print media and online journal. The collection of houses portrait the concept of contemporary spaces with traditional themes keeping in mind. A wide range of different country houses with delightful spaces.
The projects are selected from Iceland, Australia, Spain, Slovenia, the UK, Greece, Sweden, Japan, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, and the Czech Republic all together every country depicted different kind of country houses however the projects mentioned equally contribute with the climatically responsive architecture. Everyone delivers a broader understanding of what “country house” means. People often live within the space like they just want to spend a lifetime, cutting their time behind the four walls.
The respective houses beautifully represent the admiration to live with the landscape with nature or to bring nature within the house. The play of materials and spaces is excellently delivered by the following houses.
As climatic change has become a severe challenge around the world and people are experiencing the apparent changes who are living in the remote areas where there are lakes, rivers, and dams. As well as places where there is water supply and recreational areas attached climate have a vital role. That’s why environmentally sensitive, low-impact architecture is becoming a new norm for new rural homes.
This book conveys such projects which are designed keeping climate change in mind. The collection of work helps young designers for inspiration and knowing the principle of the designs revolving around the climate. Some of the methods such as hydronic heating, solar panels, cross ventilation, and rainwater collection are considered as the elements delivered in the new rural architecture. Hence the following houses represent the contemporary method with the traditional muse.
The respective country houses create a connection with the environment visually and bring out the blissful nature within the interior. From variant roofs depicted according to their climatic conditions, these country houses do attract people and inspire the designer in many ways. One of the projects like 5 Beech Lane by Scott Carpenter Architect is beautifully rendered with white concrete depicting a contemporary concept.
The house has contributed with many technologies such as storm water collection, filtration tank, and strong climatology concept. Similar to this there are many country houses mentioned with decent detailing of the materials, technologies used.
Turf roofs with modern profiles which are contributing to topographical continuity and equally help to hide buildings when viewed from a higher level. Some of the structures are inculcated with courtyards which bring outer wildlife with inside spaces. The following country houses are fulfilled by these courtyards and terraces which act as passive solar gain and promote cross ventilation. One of the designs mentioned also promotes adaptable climatic spaces, the flexibility of the spaces, and cross ventilation.
With the sustainability of the materials and modern touch to the structure, this book is the ultimate guide in many ways. From remote areas to the places where the design has to withstand frost, extreme heat, bushfires, and snow has been mentioned with quintessential graphics.
Some of the country houses that one must study for design inspiration are Tree House by Sander Architects, The Vintage by Suters Architects, Waterfall Bay House by Pete Bossley Architects, and Pencalenick House by Seth Stein Architects. There are many outstanding houses mentioned, the design is portrait according to the concept, climatology, and technology. Projects from Iceland depicting the blend of surrounding and inviting outer nature with the interior spaces. Some sloping roofs, some flats, some turfs engage the reader to find more about the detailing from a designer’s point of view.
In any book, the graphic representation is as important as the photographic documentation. The 100 Country Houses by Beth Browne is the amalgamation of decent graphics, clear font and the perfect minimal description mentioned thoroughly. The visual documentation is perfectly achieved with the basic orientations in the composition. Information regarding the following country houses is mentioned with location, climatic conditions, the technology used in the structure, and the beautiful essence of the spaces is mentioned with words. Whereas the interior spaces are exquisite the photographic documentation has done complete justice to the design.
“This collection of 100 of the world’s best rural and remote country houses was an extreme pleasure to research and to deliver to the readers. From discovering different creativity of the architects and photographers who have kindly allowed us to publish their masterpiece is a beautiful experience “ says the editor Beth Browne. This book is available on Amazon, Scribd, Google Books, and on other platforms as well. It’s a complete package of contemporary country houses with the bliss of traditional touch.
A must-buy for young designers because not only it delivers inspirational concepts but also has a good graphic presentation easy to understand. The 100 Country Houses is available on www.scribd.com where one can easily buy access to the book by just paying 8.99 $ for the premium account. Scribd is an online platform for books and educational stuff. It comes with the trial version as well where it becomes easy for students to have access to such informative books. This book is a compilation of 100 country houses around the world perfect for all age groups most useful for the students and young designers.
References
100 Country Houses | Basement | Kitchen (scribd.com)
100 Country Houses: New Rural Architecture – The Images Publishing Group – Google Books
100 Country Houses – New Rural Architecture – Beth Browne – GooShared.com
