Rigg Side

Details

SS63SW
684/8/10003


GOODLEIGH Rigg Side


II*


Private house, also know as THE ANDERTON HOUSE. 1970-1 to the designs of Peter Aldington and John Craig for Mr and Mrs Anderton. Timber frame, forming a two-row grid of double posts and beams with a tent roof, set half proud of 7'2" concrete block walls and glazed clerestory and stained. Tiled gabled roof. Timber linings and ceilings internally, with tiled floors.
The house sits low on a sloping site at the end of a village, and is reached down a steep drive. It is rectangular, with entrance to principal living areas set on one side beyond open car port and concealed by round projecting "pod" containing bathroom and lavatory. The exterior is simple, set behind deep projecting eaves. Glazed gables and clerestories, with full-height glazing to living area extended with low lean-to incorporated in the double grid. Aluminium sash windows with tiled sills elsewhere. The entrance door is of solid timber, pivoted, and set between opaque glass panels, and set back behind curved form of bathroom'pod', with opaque glass to porch roof also.
The interior is more complex and may be divided into two halves: an open- plan living room and kitchen/dining area, and a line of three bedrooms reached off one side of a spinal corridor. The car port occupies the remaining space on this side. Central in this design is the Circular bathroom and lavatory pod, sited next to the pivoted front door. On entering the house, one turns right into a galley kitchen area, with a tirnber-hned dining area under a low ceiling beyond. Alternatively, one can go down a few steps into a south-facing living area which is glazed on two sides and open to the roof But one has to chose, because there is a low barrier between the two areas, formed of an 'office' with shoulder-high walls, so that Mr Anderton could work at his desk but be able to talk to his wife in the kitchen or living room. Aldington describes how this compromise was achieved between an untidy husband and a meticulously tidy wife in Architecture for People (1980, p.27). This central square area provides a complement to the circular bathroom, and is fitted with low built-in shelving and a desk. Similarly the kitchen is carefully designed by Aidington, with fitted cupboards, work bench and rubbish shute. Elsewhere he based the proportions of the rooms around the Anderton's existing furniture. At the far end of the house is a study bedroom with a long built-in desk designed for the Andertons' student daughter.
The timber frame was prefabricated under Aldington's supervision in Oxford, and the house was completed by local builders under the supervision of A M Evans, a local surveyor. This method enabled Aldington to have greater control over the design most distant from his adopted Buckinghamshire. In his early work in Buckinghamshire Aldington had explored traditional vernacular building materials as well as modern concrete and timber construction. At Rigg Side, otherwise known as the Anderton House, there is in addition to an understanding of the Devon landscape and longhouse tradition a classical formalism based on a deep intellectual rigour. The house is also the most successful demonstration of the way in which Craig developed a brief with the clients for over a year before building began, enabling the house to he detailed round their existing furniture and specific requirements.
Although they were not then in partnership the methodology of Aldington and Craig's practice was established with this house, which was explained by Craig in his article for 'Architecture
for People'. The house won an RIBA Conunendation in 1973.
Architects'journal, 28 February 1973, pp.496-504
House and Garden,June 1973, pp.104-108
RIBA Journal,July 1973, p.347.
Concrete Quarterly, July/September 1973, pp.25-27
Architecture and Urbanism December 1973, p.74
Peter Aidington and John Craig, 'Understanding People and Developing a Brief, in Byron Mikellides ed. Architecture for People, London, Studio Vista, 1980, pp.27-33.

Listing NGR: SS6024034330

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

469737

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Architects Journal in 28 February, (1973), 496-504
Architecture and Urbanism in December, (1973), 74
RIBA Journal in July, (1973), 347
Concrete Quarterly in July September, (1973), 25-27
House and Garden in June, (1973), 104-108
Aldington, P, Craig, J, Architecture for People in Understanding People And Developing A Brief, (1980), 27-33

End of official list entry

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