Malator | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Earth house |
Address | Druidston |
Town or city | Pembrokeshire |
Country | Wales |
Coordinates | 51°48′44″N5°06′05″W / 51.8123°N 5.1015°W |
Completed | 1998 |
Client | Bob Marshall-Andrews |
Owner | Bob Marshall-Andrews |
Design and construction | |
Architecture firm | Future Systems |
Malator is a house in Druidston, Pembrokeshire, Wales, built in the Earth house architectural style. It was built for, and owned by, former Member of Parliament Bob Marshall-Andrews. The architectural firm who designed the building was Future Systems. Malator has appeared on television series such as the More4 programme Homes by the Sea , and has been received positively by critics with Architectural Digest listing it as one of the most innovative houses of the 20th century.
Malator is an Earth house, built with an exterior glass wall facing Druidston Haven and looking out over St Brides Bay, Pembrokeshire. [1] It is sunk into the ground to have a minimal impact on the landscape. Inside, the building has an open-plan format in a style compared to that of a medieval hall. An open log fire is a centrepiece to the room, with communal seating located around it. [2] Multi-coloured pods in that large room divide the space. [3]
It was built in 1998 for Bob Marshall-Andrews, QC, who was MP for the constituency of Medway from 1997 to 2010, and his wife Gill Marshall-Andrews. The architects on the project were Future Systems, a design company. [1] The design of the building has resulted in it locally being referred to as the "Teletubby house" in reference to the building from the BBC children's television series. [4] It was built as an earth house for design reasons rather than as part of any ecological requirement. [5]
The building appeared in the first episode of the property television show Homes by the Sea, broadcast on the More4 channel on 16 October 2014. In the show, Marshall-Andrews gave a tour to presenter Charlie Luxton. [4]
The history of the Malator's conception, design and construction is described in an interview of Ivan Margolius with Gill Marshall-Andrews in Jan Kaplický - For the Future and For Beauty book. [6]
In the dual language book Y Tu Mewn i Gartrefi Cymru / Inside Welsh Homes by Rachael Barnwell and Richard Suggett, Malator was described as representing an experiment that "will continue to change our ideas about the arrangement of our domestic space." [2] Architectural Digest magazine included Malator in a list of the most innovative houses of the 20th century. [7] In the Pembrokeshire volume of The Buildings of Wales series by Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach and Robert Scourfield, the authors called Malator a "success, the more shining amid the general failure of house design of the later [20th century]". [5]
Future Systems was a London-based architectural and design practice, formerly headed by Directors Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete.
Robert Graham Marshall-Andrews QC is a British barrister, author, and retired politician, who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Medway from 1997 to 2010. He defected from his former party at the 2017 general election and endorsed the Liberal Democrats.
Caldey Lighthouse is located on the south end of Caldey Island, three miles (5 km) off the south Pembrokeshire, Wales coastline, a small island inhabited by a Cistercian monastery.
Jan Kaplický was a Neofuturistic Czech architect who spent a significant part of his life in the United Kingdom. He was the leading architect behind the innovative design office, Future Systems. He was best known for the neofuturistic Selfridges Building in Birmingham, England, and the Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground in London.
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Edwin Dolby was an English Victorian architect who practised in Abingdon. His works include the design of Abingdon School.
Ivan Margolius is an author, architect and propagator of Czech culture and technology.
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Welsh tower houses were fortified stone houses that were built between the early 14th and 15th centuries. They are related to tower houses, which occur in considerable numbers in Ireland and Scotland and to a much lesser extent in England. A map showing the distribution of tower houses within the United Kingdom is given in Houses of the Welsh Countryside.
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Porth-y-Tŵr is a gatehouse and bell tower overlooking St Davids Cathedral in the small city of St Davids, Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. It is the sole survivor of four medieval gates to the walled Cathedral Close. The 13th-century octagonal tower, adjoining the gateway, now contains the cathedral's bells.
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William Owen was a Welsh architect working in Haverfordwest in the late Georgian and early Victorian periods. He built up a considerable practice in Pembrokeshire and Carmathenshire. He was the county surveyor of Pembrokeshire, four times Mayor of Haverfordwest and High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire in 1859.
The Church of St Dogfael, Meline, Pembrokeshire, Wales is a redundant church dating from the 19th century. A Grade II listed building, the church is now in the care of the Friends of Friendless Churches.
Druidston is a hamlet within the community of Nolton and Roch on the St Brides Bay coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Druidston Cross is an eastern outlier of the hamlet. The coast is 1/2 mile to the west where cliffs up to 80m in height overlook a rocky shore platform and the sandy beach of Druidston Haven which is popular with swimmers and surfers. The Pembrokeshire Coast Path which has since 2012 formed a part of the longer Wales Coast Path passes north - south along the cliff tops. Malator is an innovative earth house which is built into the hillside overlooking the bay.
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