The Sliding House
In amongst my morning routine of checking email, twitter and feeds, I checked out the website of a new twitter follower @LinkBitch. Amongst the LinkBitch links, I found a video file from Wallpaper Magazine, of the most amazing sliding house. I had visions of a house like a Rubiks Cube or something as I waited for the video to load, but nothing as simple and elegant as the reality.
Part barn, part greenhouse, it's a wonderful building, and I was completely transfixed watching the video of the roof sliding back and forth over the house. See for yourself. I've embedded it, even though it's too wide for this design, because it's worth hitting that fullscreen button.
The architects, dRMM, have done a fabulous job, and the reactions to the building (at least amongst twitter and in the few articles I've found online have been overwhelmingly positive).
I really wish I'd known about this a couple of days ago, because I might have been able to swing a visit to the Ecobuild and Futurebuild exhibition at Earl's Court to hear the architect talk about the project. He's speaking between 4.30 and 5pm tomorrow, March 3rd.
As @duality1 said to me on twitter, if you ever hear someone asking why you'd bother employing an architect, this house is very definitely the reason, and the words of the owner "We are prepared to be radical"
might become my new motto for this year.