Living With The Future

Richard Paxton died at only 49, and his legacy is the house he designed for himself and his family. His widow, Heidi, lives there now with their two teenage children. When Simon Davis arrives, he finds it hard to see an entrance. Behind a sort of high-tech garage door which miraculously lifts (including the boxes of planted pansies) to let him in, he finds a house noone would suspect, as it contrasts strongly with the surrounding mews.

Davis visits a house located in the northwest of England, in the Ribble Valley. It is designed by two Iranian sisters for a blended family. Separate houses have their own gardens, all connected by an overhead bridge, leading to the formal and informal areas. All angles of the vast house are odd, and it is covered with thatch cladding to blend in with the surrounding countryside.

Davis visits Tilty Barn, a complex of agricultural barns transformed by minimalist architect John Pawson. The U-shaped complex respects the character of the structure and has three wings, two are residential spaces dedicated to the human family members and one is the sleeping quarters of the family horse Klein. The minimalist interior features walls and low partitions in pure white, concrete floors, stone fittings, seamless stainless kitchen bench and many other clean-line designs.