New Country Houses [Hardcover]

Dominic Bradbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2005

The thirty houses featured in this beautifully illustrated volume range from a Portuguese vacation home whose granite facade blends seamlessly into an ancient system of agricultural terraces to a Japanese family residence whose translucent walls glow like a paper lantern in the nighttime, but they all embody the same contemporary architectural trend: a radical shift in thinking about the residential architecture of the countryside. An increasing exodus from the stresses of urban living has brought a positive and powerful design consciousness out of the cities into new and challenging environments. New Country Houses explores how architects today seek to reinvent the country house and develop a new rural architecture for the twenty-first century, rather than simply remodeling or recreating the methods and manners of the past.

Exercising his keen eye for architectural style, the author divides the book thematically into four chapters which correspond to contemporary architects’ primary approaches to the challenge of designing for the countryside: organic, vernacular, contemporary, and experimental. The individual case studies within these chapters include insights from the architects themselves and are augmented by both detailed plans and elevations and no fewer than 175 full-color interior and exterior photographs. A full complement of supplementary features—an introduction tracing the history of the country house, a bibliography, and an index—ensures that this book will serve as a guide and inspiration to architects, their clients, and all readers who are interested in the aesthetically groundbreaking, flexible, and ecologically conscious way of living represented by today’s new country houses.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Dominic Bradbury is a freelance journalist and author whose books include Designers at Home (2001), Morocco (2002), and Mexico (2003). He is also a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines such as The Daily Telegraph and House and Garden.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789208512
• ISBN-13: 978-0789208514
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,279,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dominic Bradbury is a freelance journalist and writer who has contributed to many newspapers and magazines in the UK, the US and beyond. His books include The Iconic House: Architectural Masterworks Since 1900 and Mediterranean Modern, both published by Thames & Hudson, as well as Barns, Mexico and Morocco published by Conran Octopus. The Iconic House has been translated into five languages. He lives in a small village in Norfolk, England, with his wife and family. He currently has a number of new titles in development with Thames & Hudson.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stretching the Limits of Architecture, August 14, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Country Houses (Hardcover)

When I looked at the cover of this book I saw what I expected, a very modern house fairly small house in a heavily forested setting. Then I turned to the first page of the introduction and pictured was the country home of the Eleventh Duke of Marlborough in 1722. His home, called Blenheim Palace, was not moden, definitely not small and incidentally was the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Next to it though was the tiny cabin used by Henry David Thoreau at Walden Pond.

The book is organized into four chapters with houses separated by style. The styles he features are:

Organic -- homes made to fit in with the surroundings. This includes both a sensitivity to the site and landscape but also to building materials: stone, timber, adobe.

Verhacular -- Powerful and beautifyl homes that fuse vernacular references and ideas with contemporary demands for open-plan living and flexible spaces.

New Modern --Where new materials and technology bring in innovation with engineering challenges but still preserve a respect for their rural surroundings.

Experimental -- Where anything goes. Well away from the restrictive covenents, building codes and other pressures of society, these are homes that stretch the limits of thematic, structural and let the country be one of the great laboratories of architectural change.

This book provide great photography and descriptions with a selection of houses from around the world.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good start on the typology of the country house, May 29, 2007

By 

K. Glendinning "architecture student" (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: New Country Houses (Paperback)

Impressions on the title alone, the name of the book is initially a little misleading; the term "country house" conjuring up imagery of a vanished way of life of servants and English manors rather than a building type. However, the contemporary image on the cover and the 208 pages throughout the book powerfully re-affirm that all of the houses featured are simply new and in the country.

Bradbury presents 30 case studies which span 4 continents in an attempt to highlight good rural design and celebrates how architects worldwide have sought to reinterpret and reinvent the genre of the country house in a contemporary fashion. He does this by breaking the book into 4 thematic chapters; choosing to categorize the case studies into topics such as organic, vernacular, new modern and experimental.

Most case studies featured have a devoted 6 pages of text each accompanied by large colour pictures. Plans and sections are also included with a majority of the case studies which adds to the further understanding of the buildings.

The chapters follow an introduction in the book that provides a concise synopsis on the history of the country house, charting the development of country houses worldwide from Blenheim's Palace to Throreau's hut. It further enriches this topic by analyzing the notion of the country house and the symbolic weight that has been associated with it throughout literature and historical connotation, from the `sprawling classical country house' to the more modest modern inspired `bucolic retreat'.

I suppose that by publishing this book Bradbury is trying to argue that contemporary design of this building typology can achieve good outcomes and perhaps was conceived in response to Britain's strict and archaic planning laws that make it hard for this design to be possible.

Bradbury also places a strong emphasis on ESD principles and a presents a romanticized relationship with the landscape. This book has been targeted at a mainstream audience that possess an interest in architecture or design. It is quite similar to the glossy publications with titles like Small Spaces, Poolside Architecture etc. that profile a genre in housing.

Bradbury has written a number of books before regarding architecture and his writings are concise and intelligent, yet easy to follow. With so many examples being provided around the world, it is questionable to say how representative a sample this is of the contemporary country house for the scholar, but considering there are few publications profiling the genre at present it is a very good start. It is easy to be seduced by the chosen collection of inspiring projects from some of the world's best architects.

2.0 out of 5 stars broad range of styles, photos need better color correcting, February 19, 2011

By 

Clarence Tyner III (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: New Country Houses (Paperback)

Lots of floor plans and cross sections. The photos contain a lot of information however the image/color quality is a bit off - some photos have a green tint to them, others are contrasty. For the price not bad - but better eye to detail would have been appreciated.