Grillagh Water House
Wales
Peter Bradely
DESIGNER: Peter Bradley BUILDER: OPeter Bradley BUILD DATE: 25th Sep 2014
LOCATION: Country Derry PHOTO CREDITS: Kate Rees RATING: 5 Stars.
A simple yet iconic design.
Grillagh Water House is sited on river banks of the ‘Grillagh River’ which known to locals as Pixies Paradise. It's owner is a young architect Patrick Bradley and you can find his home featured on the channel 4 show “Grand Designs”. In fact, the Water House design has quickly become a symbol for Cargotecture and has inspired many to join the following. Patrick Bradley, a countryman and an architect, had a vision to build a modern farmhouse on this own farm under local legislation allowing farms to build on buildings on their land - but had not intended to first build with containers.
Price played a large part in Patrick's decision to convert the shipping containers in to a home. "I didn't want to change the idea or the aesthetics of the design but I had to come up with an alternative that was more affordable and that's where the idea for shipping containers came from,"
This alternative solution became a truly unique piece of architecture in Northern Ireland and has the admiration of many locals and the envy of the Cargotecture following.
The design was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s The Falling Water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallingwater albeit the build cost was slightly cheaper than Falling Water's $2.8M (adjusted for inflation) at GBP130,000!
Driven by his passion for sustainable architecture, Bradley says "This is a very rural part of Northern Ireland so I tried to use materials that are common in the area .... I actually wanted it to act like a sculpture in the landscape but still blend in with its surroundings." "Even though it's a house made out of containers I didn't really want it to look like a house or like an idea of a farm building," explained Bradley.
Build method
The primary structure made up of four 40 foot (12 meter) shipping containers, stacked and cantilivered. This form has been copied many times but none quite as successfully including, in particular, it's use of pre-rusted Corten steel (one the lower level) and extruded metal sections on the upper level. This metal cloak is extended perfectly with a finned balcony which frames the surrounds really neatly and shades the interior.
"The grey colour is similar to many of the agricultural buildings around here and the Corten steel cladding was used to blend in with the landscape and the rock that was already on the site."
This raw sculpture oozing personality is within the top 10 of the Interbode Library. The dwelling's layout has been cleverly designed to take full advantage of the sites outstanding views and maintains a solid relationship to nature.
The upper level through a galley foyer provides a large lounge with views to the landscape, galley kitchen with matt black finished a decent deck (originally designed with a deck either side) Joined together with a chequer plate exposed steel staircase, the lower level is more private and includes the master bedroom, guest room, storage/boot room and a wonderful hung bath behind a full glass wall. The window at the rear of the lower level which accompanies the stairs is a cool touch providing a view of the natural rock into which Water House nestles.
"The way the house is designed with two levels creates an open space on the top floor that makes the most of the views and then the lower two containers provide a more private and intimate space," the architect said. "The idea was to create a completely different atmosphere between the two levels."
Interbode’s view and price of build
Patrick invested GBP$100,000 into Water House and we think it's worth every penny. What we like most about this 5 star design is that shows off the possibilities of container living so well. With it's small but spacious dimensions and simple elevations, balance and industrial personality, its a modern day farm house which convinces you that you could be very happy living (read: lucky) in a shipping container home.
Grillagh Water House Designs
WATER HOUSE PLANS
High Level Architectural plans of the Grillagh Water House by Interbode’s design workshop.
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