Chiltern Hills House | McLean Quinlan Architects

Our client always wanted to build a light-filled, modern home, using natural, timeless materials that seamlessly link indoor and outdoor spaces.

The house sits high, overlooking gardens and rolling countryside. The approach is via a causeway of granite slabs across a shallow pool, flanked by a ‘floating’ dining pavilion. A dry stone wall wraps around the building at the entrance courtyard.

This home needed to be beautifully built, with a craftsman’s eye and skill. On entering, the building reveals the surrounding countryside through walls of glass and here the house separates, leading on one side to more formal areas, including studies and a guest suite and on the other to more relaxed family living spaces.

The formal limestone façade of the southern elevation references both the traditional English country house as well as classic modernist villas. The building blends into the parkland landscape. Many of the walls were designed to be covered, in time, by climbing plants. Similarly, the roofs are planted with heather and lavender.

Location – Buckinghamshire, Great Britain

Total Area – 915.7 m2

Completed – 2011

Architects – McLean Quinlan

Interior Design – McLean Quinlan, Isherwood Interior Design

Structural Engineer – Frank Van Loock Associates

QS – Baillie Knowles Partnership  

M&E -Environmental Engineering Partnership 

Landscape Design – Todd Longstaffe-Gowan

Photography/Film – Jim Stephenson