This $1 million ‘sliding home’ might have the perfect solution for temperamental weather—it adapts to the changing seasons by exposing its glass structure in summer and closing back up for a cozy winter.
The unique three-bedroom property in the English countryside of Suffolk, is covered by a moving ‘wooden casing’ that has been wowing house hunters since it went on the market April 5.
Footage shows the glass-fronted conservatory area sheltered by its innovative shell until the walls and roof slide backward to fully expose it to the sun.
The six-minute transformation also reveals an open-air bathroom on the first floor and a previously covered courtyard.
It ends its solar-powered retraction over a detached annex containing the third bedroom and another living area.
The architect behind the design, Alex de Rijke, described the moving shell as ‘like wearing a puffer jacket’ that can be retracted to let heat into the home and reinstated to trap it in.
The unusual home, which won Grand Designs’ ‘Home of the Year’ award upon its completion in 2009, was listed for sale at £1million on Rightmove earlier this month.
“It allows you to have the best of both worlds, shelter or openness,” says Alex. “The basis of the design is that you can transform a house in many ways. You can put the insulation where you need it when you need it.
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“It differs from most designs that are fixed where you have to assume that the climate is the same all year round. This structure is like wearing a puffer jacket.
“The client wanted to build a glass house to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. An all-glass house would get too hot or too cold, but this design makes it possible.
“It’s not only about thermal control. It’s the joy of transformation. It’s not a static object. Everything changes because the roof serves to connect or disconnect the buildings.
“The perfect person for this house would be someone who not only understands it but looks after it and isn’t afraid to contact me in order to make changes if they want to.”
Alex claims the solar and wind-powered home doesn’t need to take any power from the national grid and the innovative shell can even be removed completely to make a ‘free-standing barn’.
The 60-year-old says the original owner, who built the home to his design, wants to retire to a house in a nearby town that has less land to manage than his current three-and-a-half-acre plot.
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Alex, a director at dRMM Architects, was a judge on Channel 4’s Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker in 2021 where carpenters competed against each other in a series of challenges.
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