Architecture

Denys Lasdun’s National Theatre, John Pawson’s new Welsh retreat and Daniel Libeskind’s idea of home

Fresh from masterminding the new Design Museum, which opens this November, award-winning architect John Pawson has created a picturesque modern retreat in the Welsh countryside. Ty Bywyd (‘The Life House’) is the seventh property in Alain de Botton’s Living Architecture portfolio of contemporary holiday homes and was inspired by the simplicity of Japanese design and the architecture of Benedictine monasteries. Sleeping six people, the 260-square-metre structure also evokes Scandinavian style, thanks to the 80,000 handmade Danish bricks that line the interior walls. The combination of materials, such as pale polished concrete floors and Douglas fir ceilings, creates a serene feel. ‘The location is wonderfully remote and I wanted to create a sanctuary where people feel at home,’ Pawson says. Furnishings include beautiful Kvadrat fabric curtains, which glide on Silent Gliss rails, and the house has a ‘contemplation chamber’ built into the side of the valley. £3,200 per week ( livingarchitecture.co.uk).