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I've been picked up from airports in taxis before,
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but never had to go to a jetty to be picked up by boat.
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He's Piers Taylor, an award-winning architect.
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This building is so tactile and just rich materially.
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Woo-hoo-hoo!
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And she's Caroline Quentin,
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acclaimed actress and passionate property developer.
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Oh, I've been expecting you, Mr Bond!
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THEY LAUGH
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We've been given the keys
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to some of the most incredible houses in the world.
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It's chock full of surprises, isn't it?
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Ooh!
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To discover the design, innovation,
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passion and endurance needed to transform architectural vision
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into an extraordinary home.
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If this was Hollywood, I'd be snogging you now.
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Together, we'll be travelling the globe.
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- Oh, look down there!
- I would, but I'm trying not to kill us.
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No. You look ahead!
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Meeting the architects and owners who have taken on the challenge of
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building unconventional homes in demanding locations.
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Just another day on the wing of a 747.
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Whether it's navigating the logistics of constructing a house
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on top of a remote mountain...
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Why would you build a house where you can only get there by cable car?
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..negotiating the ancient trees of a fragile forest...
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You never see a building this close to the trees.
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I mean, that's six inches away.
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..having a sea view whilst perched on the edge of a dramatic coastal shoreline...
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I'd love to know how you actually built this
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on what appears to be a sort of vertical cliff face.
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..or excavating the earth to build a home deep underground.
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There is always a moment when you feel fear.
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Nature is never to come back the same way.
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No-one had ever built something like this before.
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It's a tightrope you walk. It can go spectacularly wrong.
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Coastal living promises pure sea air,
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the constant sound of waves and ever-changing views of the sea.
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But building houses so close to the shore in remote locations can be
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fraught with challenges.
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When we were building this house,
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the two winters we hit was really, really bad.
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And they were building in these conditions?
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They tried to.
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Piers and I will be travelling from the windswept islands of Norway
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to the steep Mediterranean cliffs of southern Spain.
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This earth is basically scree, isn't it?
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- Exactly what it is.
- There's nothing solid.
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And from the wild Atlantic Ocean of south-east Canada
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to the flooded coastal valleys of New Zealand.
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Discovering what it takes to design,
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build and live in some of the world's most extraordinary coastal homes.
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- So we'll see you in, what, six months?
- Yeah.
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When the winter comes, come and get your keys!
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THEY LAUGH
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The first stop on our coastal adventure takes us to Norway
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and to a group of remote islands 200 miles south-west of the capital, Oslo.
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Although it's early summer now,
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temperatures in winter can drop as low as minus 20 in this Nordic archipelago.
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Any house built on this windswept shoreline
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needs to be able to withstand everything Mother Nature can throw at it.
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Let's go.
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Our first extraordinary coastal home is a remote island retreat,
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camouflaged to blend into the surrounding landscape and designed
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as an antidote to the stresses of the owners' busy work schedules.
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The biggest challenge for the architect was how to create
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a four-bedroom home within the size restrictions of a pre-existing
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property, which had a footprint of just 100 square metres.
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Can you hear something?
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We're being picked up by owner Dag,
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who's the CEO of a large Norwegian shipping firm.
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He's invited Piers and I to spend the night in his family's remote holiday home.
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- Dag?
- Dag?
- Dag?
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He's not handsome at all, is he?
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Hello, how lovely to meet you!
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Caroline, lovely to meet you.
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- Great to meet you.
- Shall I just hop straight on? Ooh, OK!
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Sure? Thank you. Wow!
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Ooh! That was taller than I thought!
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So exciting!
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Just in case you were wondering, as I was,
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Dag is married with three children.
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# Like I just got caught in a dream... #
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Although they live in the city of Kristiansand,
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the family escape on a 30-minute boat ride to their very own remote
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paradise island every weekend and throughout the summer.
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Dag, tell us how you even came to think about building a house on an island.
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As a kid, the parents of a friend of mine, they had a house on an island,
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so I'm kind of used to it.
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I enjoyed it a lot as a kid.
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And when we wanted a place for ourselves,
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we were looking for a place to have some privacy and enjoy the nature and scenery.
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And we also wanted a place where...
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that's sheltered from the wind.
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I have a sense also that the Norwegians celebrate summer
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because your winters are so harsh.
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Yeah, that's true. We appreciate the good weather and the sun.
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- We do, too!
- Yeah, yeah! We're with you on that one.
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Are we nearly there? Cos I'm getting really excited.
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It's like five more minutes and we are there.
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There it is, there it is!
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Look! I love the way the roof is almost like part of the rock.
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It's so lovely.
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- The colours are great, aren't they?
- They are.
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It's so discreet.
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Really discreet. I really like the way it's hunkered down.
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Yeah, you can barely see it, actually.
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Oh! It's so beautiful.
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Dag is leaving us marooned on this island for the next two days,
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so we can find out what it's really like to live in this secluded coastal home.
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You sure you don't want to stay this evening, Dag?
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It seems such a shame. We could open a bottle of wine and have a bit of a fish barbie.
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Thank you.
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Are you sure you don't want to stay, Dag?
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It seems a shame for you to go.
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OK, I'm going to pass you the key and I hope you enjoy it.
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- Really?
- Thank you very much indeed.
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So we'll see you in, what, six months?
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- Yeah!
- Something like that.
- We'll go native.
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When the winter comes, come and get your keys!
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- Cheers. Bye.
- Bye.
- Bye.
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Bye!
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Right.
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You're off!
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SHE LAUGHS
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I've got the keys to this house!
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Already, I want to come in here and I want to take off my shoes,
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not because I have to - just because I want to
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cos I feel immediately at home here, which is fantastic.
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And what a relief to have a building that has such a difference in inside,
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inside but undercover, and then out here.
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Everything is about relating to the rocks.
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It really is. It really is. These spaces are delightful.
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And what's interesting is that it's a building that has been designed without an elevation as such.
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This is just a set of spaces that allow you to be next to the landscape
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and I love that, actually.
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It feels very special.
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It does. But this is still the house.
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And, actually, in England we think of the house as something
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that has walls and doors and windows, and you're either inside or outside.
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But here, this is still the house, really, isn't it?
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- Absolutely.
- I think what's great about this is that this guy
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has clearly just looked at where the rocks are,
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where the spaces between the rocks are,
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and then he's covered bits of that, rather than thinking,
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"What's my house going to look like and where can I plonk it down?"
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Yeah. "I must get rid of things to make my house!"
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He's actually respected the landscape
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and built the house to fit in with the landscape.
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I love it from here, for instance.
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It's almost imperceptible.
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Building a house so close to the water on this protected rocky shoreline
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meant the architect had to abide by strict planning laws.
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The challenge was to create a four-bedroom home to fit within
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the 100-square-metre footprint of a 1960s cottage that previously stood on the site.
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This architect designed a low-lying one-storey building with an interior
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floor plan smaller than the size of a tennis court.
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To maximise the usable floor area,
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the internal living spaces of the house were split into two wings,
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connected by external corridors.
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A thick white concrete canopy stretches over both wings of the house
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and is bolted into the rocks,
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securely anchoring the house to this windswept site.
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Concrete was used as it can withstand the salty coastal atmosphere
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and weather over time to blend in with the surrounding rocky landscape.
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- The house and the rock, I mean, they are sort of as one, aren't they, really?
- They really are.
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And even though those bits of timber are very vertical,
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they still feel like a bit of landscape.
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With limited internal floor space,
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the architect made clever use of the outside space.
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This is the bedroom bit.
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And what's brilliant about this is that, because there is no wall here,
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this corridor - ostensibly, this corridor space -
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isn't counted in the overall metreage of the house,
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so you can use that space inside the house where it's needed,
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and this is open to this beautiful vista.
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There is one main bedroom downstairs.
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One here. Two here?
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Yeah, another one. You've got a double bunk bed down the bottom here
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and then a single up here.
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There is a discretion about all these bedrooms.
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They look the same but they're not,
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because this is the nicest one...
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and it's mine! You snooze, you lose.
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What's extraordinary about this house is that what you have
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is a cross-section of a rock formation like this,
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and many people would level that and put a big building down there.
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But what this guy has done is just carve this as delicately as possible,
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and then delicately fill in a little bit of that with a bit of a building,
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and leave one bit completely open, so that you get views through that.
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And I think that's a really beautiful way to make a building.
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And it's a building that doesn't try and compete with landscape,
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it doesn't apologise for landscape.
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But, at the same time, it's a beautiful, delicate thing that sits there.
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And, really, that's the building.
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The man responsible for this coastal home is Sven Lund,
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an award-winning Norwegian architect based in Oslo.
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Tell me what Dag and Rine's brief to you was initially.
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They wanted a house which fitted into landscape.
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That's our main goal. We had to be very careful.
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Careful in the way that it was a part of the terrain rather than sticking out.
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This is a really harsh climate and it's also on a remote island.
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Tell me about building this house.
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Exactly when we were building this house,
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the two winters we hit was really, really bad.
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- They were very, very cold.
- This looks pretty extreme.
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This looks like pack ice, sea ice.
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Yeah. The island was almost impossible to get to, or get away from.
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And if you see, this picture in front of you -
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it says something about the conditions.
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As well as battling one of the worst winters on record,
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the builders were limited to just seven hours of daylight.
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And they were building in these conditions?
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- They tried to.
- But what about getting materials to this site?
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- The concrete arrived here on a truck on a barge.
- Really?
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It was towed by a boat, yeah.
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How long did it take to build, given the extreme weather?
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A bit more than one and a half years.
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It's quite a long time for a house that is about 100 square metres.
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Yeah. I think we started at the wrong time of the year, in the winter!
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Building through the winter is challenging even in the UK,
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but Sven was determined to finish the house
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so that the family could make the most of the precious summer months.
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That's pretty good.
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Oh, look at that!
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Even though the water temperature is a chilly eight degrees,
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Piers and I can't resist a quick dip while the barbecue heats up.
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You know, it's one of the first houses I've been that doesn't just
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complement the landscape, it actually makes it better.
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- Yeah!
- Do you know what I mean?
- I absolutely do.
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And how rare is that?
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Increasingly, I'm starting to realise that what's important about
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a good house is the atmosphere - about how it functions.
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A house like this, the minute you're here, you start to relax
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and enjoy spending time here
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and, of course, it doesn't hurt that the scenery is absolutely beautiful...
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even without Dag.
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Piers, come and get this! It's ready!
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He's not Norwegian, is he?
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- Ah, yes. That's good.
- Oh, look at that!
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This house obviously cost a lot of money,
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but what it gives you is something that's completely priceless,
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that's beyond style.
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It's just about this way that we can live in this extraordinary landscape
246
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with these rocks right here coming into the house,
247
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and the sea lapping at the rocks just there.
248
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I mean, it's extraordinary.
249
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And it wouldn't do you any harm, would it,
250
00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,920
to wake up every day to such a beautiful building?
251
00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:00,240
It would do you a lot of good to wake up to such a beautiful building.
252
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,880
In a way, I'm selling the building short because I'm talking about
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the landscape and the rocks and the light and the water,
254
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but actually it's the building that has judged perfectly
255
00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:15,040
how much architecture to do and how little,
256
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and where to make a move and where not.
257
00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:29,720
After a peaceful night's sleep,
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Piers and I are making the most of outdoor living on this remote island.
259
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Usually we're just locked away in a horrible little sealed cubicle,
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away from the elements.
261
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But being out here IN the elements,
262
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it feels like I'm just standing under the most beautiful warm waterfall out in these rocks.
263
00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,440
And this is just an everyday experience in this house.
264
00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:06,920
Dashing Dag is tied up with business on the mainland,
265
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,600
but his wife, clothes shop owner Renee,
266
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is popping by to see how we're getting on.
267
00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:13,880
It's a stylish entrance!
268
00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:16,600
Hi!
269
00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:18,240
- Hello!
- Hi, Caroline.
270
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- Lovely to meet you.
- Nice to meet you, too.
271
00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,240
Lovely to meet you.
272
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,560
- Shall we sit slightly out of the wind?
- Yeah.
- Cos it's quite breezy, isn't it?
273
00:16:26,840 --> 00:16:30,600
It's such a beautiful place. How on earth did you find it?
274
00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:32,760
It was winter and we were just out in the boat,
275
00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,960
and then, when we came around in here to have a look at this place,
276
00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,680
it was like, I think January, and it was really cold.
277
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,240
But it was totally clear, it was no wind.
278
00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,120
The water was like completely still.
279
00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,720
- Even in the winter?
- Yes. It was amazing.
280
00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:54,320
We just fell - I think we fell in love with the place immediately.
281
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,920
Any moments when you thought, "We've taken on too much"?
282
00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,360
Cos although it's very discreet, it's quite a big ask, this,
283
00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,080
isn't it, not to interfere with the landscape?
284
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:09,400
No, I feel very comfortable about the whole process, yeah,
285
00:17:09,400 --> 00:17:10,960
and the building and everything.
286
00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:12,720
Do you spend a lot of time here?
287
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:14,560
Yeah, we live here all summer.
288
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,000
So is this an escape for you to come here?
289
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,080
Yeah. It's very, like, relaxing.
290
00:17:20,080 --> 00:17:23,200
It sort of gives you some time off
291
00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:26,200
because both my husband and I work quite a bit.
292
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,120
And it just gives you that,
293
00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:34,000
you know, quality time with the kids and as a family.
294
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:38,240
You've actually created something perfect for your family.
295
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:40,320
Yeah.
296
00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:54,160
Some houses are really good, Caroline, but this one was extraordinary.
297
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:58,120
And I think, well, I don't really want to go, actually.
298
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,600
It's certainly one of the best houses we've seen, isn't it?
299
00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:02,640
Definitely.
300
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:05,640
I think it was...extraordinary
301
00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:10,720
in that it just felt so much part of this landscape.
302
00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:14,160
And I think...I think what surprised me is that when I got here...
303
00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:17,280
I really don't want to go, Piers! I really don't want to go.
304
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:19,480
I just wasn't so sure.
305
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:22,640
And then, as soon as I really experienced it...
306
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:24,560
Now...where's Dag?
307
00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:27,840
Oh, Dag!
308
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:29,360
I think we should stay, actually.
309
00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:31,200
What about you, Caroline?
310
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,600
The next leg of our journey to discover some of the world's most
311
00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,520
extraordinary coastal homes takes us to southern Spain.
312
00:18:55,600 --> 00:19:00,400
We're heading to an unconventional home built into a steep cliff face
313
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:05,560
on a 42-degree incline overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.
314
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,240
SHE SPEAKS SPANISH
315
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,800
- ..cliff house!
- I think this is the road to the cliff house.
316
00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:13,640
- This is the road.
- Let's hope it is.
317
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,080
The plot is just the face of a cliff.
318
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:18,560
That's right.
319
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:22,000
But building a house on a cliff of crumbling rock and soil
320
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:25,200
was no mean feat and required clever engineering
321
00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:28,240
to prevent it from falling into the sea below.
322
00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:33,600
We shouldn't tell each other what we think about this house.
323
00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,120
We should look separately and then we should meet up,
324
00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,480
cos I don't want to be influenced by you and I don't want you to be
325
00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,640
influenced by me because I think this is going to be a rather weird one.
326
00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,520
- You're just not interested in what I've got to say, are you?
- Yeah!
327
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,200
Just go off and look at it by yourself!
328
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,800
- All right, OK!
- I thought I'd got away with that!
329
00:19:50,800 --> 00:19:55,160
- Are you sure this is right?
- No, I'm not actually, darling.
- I'm sure it is.
- Oh!
330
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,600
Don't say anything! Don't speak!
331
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,280
I know you are dying to say something!
332
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:04,800
Don't speak! Don't speak.
333
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:10,320
- Don't speak, don't speak.
- Not a single adjective?
- No.
334
00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:13,920
THEY LAUGH
335
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,800
The challenge facing the architects was to build a house on this steep
336
00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:22,120
slope, which would integrate with the surrounding landscape,
337
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:26,720
yet at the same time direct all the liveable spaces towards the sea.
338
00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:40,880
Look at it and don't say anything.
339
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,800
SHE LAUGHS
340
00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,000
This unusual three-bedroom holiday home buried deep into the cliff face
341
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:55,680
consists of two floors.
342
00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:03,600
On the ground floor, a large open plan living area follows the angle of the steep slope
343
00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:06,400
and is connected to a cantilever terrace with a swimming pool.
344
00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:09,720
On the second floor,
345
00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:12,960
all the bedrooms have uninterrupted views above the roof,
346
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,280
looking out to the sea.
347
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:23,240
The 150-square-metre living space is covered by a curved double shell roof of reinforced concrete,
348
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,360
which frames the view and orientates the airflow that comes from the sea
349
00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:29,120
into the interior spaces.
350
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,840
SHE CHUCKLES
351
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,160
If you were a little boy,
352
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:38,720
what would you put at the top of the stairs if you were hot?
353
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:40,160
You'd put a pool, wouldn't you?
354
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:43,000
And that's exactly what they've done, and then it opens out
355
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:44,640
into this extraordinary thing!
356
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:49,800
SHE LAUGHS
357
00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:53,800
It's unbelievable. What is going on? What are these?
358
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,720
What the...? What are these?
359
00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,880
Oh, my Lord!
360
00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:00,920
SHE LAUGHS
361
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:05,440
This is comedy. It's like an Austin Powers movie set.
362
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:07,360
God, what a view, though.
363
00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:09,160
What a view!
364
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:19,000
The couple who own this house found the challenging cliff-side plot
365
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:22,360
and fell in love with it immediately.
366
00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,440
Aware of both the difficulties of the location and its potential,
367
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:31,360
they asked several architect companies to come up with a contemporary design.
368
00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:35,120
The winning pitch was from two young Spanish architects,
369
00:22:35,120 --> 00:22:38,720
who embraced the challenge of building a house on such a tricky site.
370
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,080
They came up with a design, which promised a large column-free
371
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:49,480
living space, which would provide uninterrupted views of the sea.
372
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,640
I wonder what my serious architect chum is making of it.
373
00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:55,600
Looking at the cliff-side
374
00:22:55,600 --> 00:23:00,920
and looking at how ordinary most things are here, the sheer ambition,
375
00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,520
the sheer creative ambition to want to do something that is unlike
376
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:07,960
anything else here, I think is brilliant.
377
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,240
I think it's really playful and funny
378
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,240
and, you know... And it's extraordinary.
379
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,240
You know, I love all this. This is great.
380
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:30,680
I mean, what a great space to move around in and, you know...
381
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,960
I mean, have you been up here? This is extraordinary.
382
00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:36,200
Why wouldn't you...? I think I'd put a slide right down there
383
00:23:36,200 --> 00:23:38,200
into a massive pool, if you're going to go mad.
384
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:39,760
And it feels so young.
385
00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:42,880
I mean, really, only a young architect can do this with the floors
386
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,040
and be prepared to push everything as far as it can go.
387
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,840
The only thing that I think anyone would say,
388
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:51,960
"Ah, yeah, that's a little bit like my home," is the kitchen space.
389
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,960
This open plan living area has a Gaudiesque ceiling
390
00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,280
and unusual bespoke features.
391
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,920
THEY LAUGH
392
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,240
We look like the king and queen of the oyster house.
393
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:13,000
The layout of the living space has been precisely dictated by the design.
394
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,520
The kitchen has a defined dining area,
395
00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:20,120
where the table legs have been fixed rigid into position on the floor.
396
00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,840
It's about the architect controlling their vision at all costs.
397
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,560
Does that ever happen with architects?
398
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:26,960
- Oh, absolutely. Completely.
- Oh, I didn't know that.
- Completely.
399
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,640
- I mean, it's all about protecting...
- Controlling architect?
400
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,960
..protecting your vision from a client that wants to meddle and interfere.
401
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:35,800
Yet, ultimately, this open plan living area
402
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,840
has been cleverly designed to make the most of main attraction.
403
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:45,040
- Let's go see upstairs.
- Looking forward to it!
404
00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:56,160
So this is the pile that's stopping the whole house tipping into the sea
405
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,600
because what happens is the other end of this is anchored somewhere
406
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,800
in the cliff face, and then the wall is built,
407
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:08,200
and then this plate is screwed down to stop it moving.
408
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,080
It's kind beautiful, actually.
409
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,000
Ooh! Look at that.
410
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,280
I bet Piers has talked about that.
411
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:21,800
Whatever he says, it's probably right.
412
00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,040
It's actually really nice being up here,
413
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,120
right under the back part of the roof,
414
00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:29,800
and seeing through that tiny little window up there,
415
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:31,560
the top bit of landscape.
416
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:37,280
And, from here, you can read the way the cliff goes all the way down to the sea.
417
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,960
- Hi, Caroline.
- Hi. It's lovely, isn't it?
- It is.
418
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,120
You very rarely get a view of a roof...
419
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:46,640
- ..of your own house.
- Yeah.
420
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:48,120
It's like an animal skin.
421
00:25:48,120 --> 00:25:52,160
It is. It's very prehistoric - a slumbering dinosaur.
422
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:54,160
- Yeah.
- It's lovely from up here,
423
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:56,360
looking all the way along this bit of the coast
424
00:25:56,360 --> 00:26:01,120
and really understanding why people have been drawn here for thousands of years.
425
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:04,640
Because I think everything's better by the water, isn't it?
426
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:08,280
- This house just celebrates it, really, doesn't it?
- Yeah.
427
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:14,800
The architects responsible for this coastal home are Jaime Bartolome and Pablo Gil.
428
00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:17,840
So you won this at competition, didn't you?
429
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:22,880
Yeah. Well, the client asked a number of architects to do, like,
430
00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:25,240
a preliminary design of the house.
431
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,880
Were you taking a bit of a risk to get yourselves noticed in this competition?
432
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,680
Well, definitely noticed for the client so we could get the commission.
433
00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:36,440
But basically, I think what he really liked was that, from the interior,
434
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:37,920
he could have all these views,
435
00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,200
and it was so open and the roof would play with that as well.
436
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,520
And, you know, like, these kind of different spaces.
437
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:49,040
The roof was the most complex element of the design.
438
00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:53,760
The handcrafted metal framework was built by a local blacksmith.
439
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,640
This malleable material is what supports the concrete
440
00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:58,240
and gives it its unique shape.
441
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:03,600
It's structurally supported by thick retaining external walls,
442
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,320
so there's no need for pillars to interrupt the views.
443
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:08,960
I'm fascinated by the structure
444
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,600
and I'd love to know a bit more about how you actually built this,
445
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,400
on what appears to me to be a sort of vertical cliff face,
446
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,440
so can we go and have a look outside and show me how you did it?
447
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:20,240
- Sure. Yeah.
- We'll see you in a minute.
448
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:25,200
A large portion of the building budget was spent on the foundations for this house.
449
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,720
And looking at the poor condition of the soil here,
450
00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:29,040
it's easy to see why.
451
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,560
Because this earth is basically, it's, I mean, it's...
452
00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:38,960
- Yeah, it's the same.
- It's just scree, isn't it?
453
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:40,120
Exactly what it is, yeah.
454
00:27:40,120 --> 00:27:41,840
- That's all it is, isn't it?
- Yeah.
455
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:45,040
There's nothing here, there's nothing solid underneath.
456
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,920
How do you go about building?
457
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,280
Do you have to dig it out?
458
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:54,160
Yeah, you basically start digging and start building at the same time.
459
00:27:54,160 --> 00:28:00,320
It was also difficult because you couldn't build the whole thing like a house is done,
460
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:01,640
from the bottom to the top.
461
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,600
You had to build it from the top to the bottom because, otherwise,
462
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,560
the whole thing would fall into you,
463
00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:10,080
onto the workers, while the site was being built.
464
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,280
Yeah, massive problem.
465
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:12,680
So that was the main issue, so...
466
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,560
You go in steps, and then through that way,
467
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:19,000
you end up with what I can show you on the photograph, like a...
468
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,520
- Oh, yeah, please.
- ..a huge void.
469
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:23,280
This is the site as it was before.
470
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:27,360
And then here, what happens is that you have already built the upper part.
471
00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:29,880
- I see!
- And then you have taken a bit off it.
472
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,520
And then you keep building down.
473
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,680
So, and then you put another wall here, and then make another...
474
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,360
- Yeah.
- ..inroad into that bit.
- Yeah.
475
00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:40,280
Alongside the giant anchors,
476
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:43,920
the house was secured to the cliff face using a micropile system.
477
00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:49,280
This involves driving steel rods 16 metres deep into the ground
478
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:51,320
to give it a secure foundation.
479
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:57,000
For a first major project for two relatively young architects,
480
00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,360
did you learn a lot about that client-architect relationship?
481
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:02,720
Having the client have that vision
482
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,880
and making sure that the rest of the team,
483
00:29:04,880 --> 00:29:08,320
the architects and then on the building site etc,
484
00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,480
everybody has the vision and goes for it.
485
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,560
I think, in that sense, the client was really helpful.
486
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:17,760
This intricate roof is made up of handmade zinc tiles,
487
00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,640
which give it a unique texture and appearance.
488
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:25,400
We bought the raw material from Asturias in the north of Spain,
489
00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,040
- a tonne of zinc, very cheap because it's not...
- Not processed.
490
00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:29,560
It's just a raw material.
491
00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,760
We transported it to a small town in Spain,
492
00:29:32,760 --> 00:29:35,040
people who worked the metal very well.
493
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:39,000
We have worked with them many times and they cut it and made the scales.
494
00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:40,840
- Yeah.
- They brought it here.
495
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:44,000
- Yeah.
- At that time, we had trained the construction workers
496
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,040
and then this whole thing was built in three weeks.
497
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:49,280
- Wow.
- So...
498
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,360
Just like the roof's structure,
499
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,560
the story behind these tiles is one of craftsmanship, using local labour.
500
00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:02,880
Manual labour, which has been thought of as something that makes the building more expensive,
501
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,040
we have found that it's not necessarily like that.
502
00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,160
It was kind of a huge surprise for us as well.
503
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,600
With local labour, using methods of construction of this area,
504
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:17,480
we have demonstrated that it's able to...we are able to produce
505
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:20,600
a great piece of architecture, I think, for the same cost,
506
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:22,800
and with much better value for the user.
507
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:27,840
And it's a pity that this doesn't happen in every mile of the coast of Spain, which is a disaster!
508
00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:29,720
Do you think, next time we come back,
509
00:30:29,720 --> 00:30:33,400
will we see this whole hillside littered with amazing buildings?
510
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,480
We could say goodbye to the square boxes of the Costa Del Sol.
511
00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:40,800
- Hopefully. I'm sure people are going to be interested in doing something else.
- Challenging it.
512
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,160
Yeah. When they know it's feasible,
513
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,640
it's durable and it can be done, so...
514
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:47,520
- Well, you've done it. Thank you.
- We've done it!
515
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:49,000
THEY LAUGH
516
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:56,520
What's great about it this is that it really could set a precedent
517
00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:00,080
about how to build beautifully and appropriately along this coast.
518
00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,280
- Hope it changes things.
- It should do, shouldn't it?
- Yeah, definitely.
519
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,560
- Not a bad life, is it?
- Not bad at all.
520
00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:09,000
- We are lucky, aren't we?
- Yeah.
521
00:31:11,880 --> 00:31:15,040
- It's bloody freezing, isn't it? Let's get out.
- It is freezing!
522
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:18,760
HE LAUGHS
523
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:31,000
Our next coastal home takes us to the other side of the world.
524
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:46,760
We're in Marlborough Sounds at the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island.
525
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,200
This ancient waterway was formed when sea levels rose
526
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:55,520
and drowned a series of deep valleys after the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago.
527
00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,720
The result is an abundance of remote bays and coves,
528
00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:05,400
and it was this coastal scenery that inspired the owner of our next house
529
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:09,600
to build a secluded retreat as an escape from his busy working life.
530
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,440
What an incredible thing to build a house at the end of this sea journey.
531
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:22,440
The challenge for the architect was to design a house which would sit on
532
00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:26,400
a narrow strip of land between the shore and protected bushland.
533
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,560
The easiest way to access this house is by boat.
534
00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,680
It's extraordinary. I'm blown away by how beautiful this is.
535
00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:40,280
But the house has to be as good as this boat ride.
536
00:32:41,600 --> 00:32:43,520
It's got a lot to live up to, hasn't it?
537
00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:51,000
But it's quite a dramatic entrance, isn't it?
538
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,840
Waterfall just there, which you can probably hear all the time, actually.
539
00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:09,400
It's just idyllic for me, this.
540
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:12,640
Right in the middle of a forest, right on the water.
541
00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,720
Probably the cleanest sea water in the world.
542
00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:18,400
Oh, thank you.
543
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:26,520
What I love is this sensory experience of being in landscape
544
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,320
and not seeing a big house anywhere.
545
00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:32,400
There's something very delicate, almost hiding, behind these trees.
546
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,000
We could be walking through a garden in the 18th century.
547
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,600
Everything's so beautiful and mysterious and scented and voluptuous.
548
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,200
- And that's just me!
- THEY LAUGH
549
00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,320
I like this entrance very much. Do you?
550
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:49,480
It's lovely being in the trees and looking down at the water.
551
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,240
This entire house was built out of recycled reclaimed hardwoods.
552
00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:54,720
And there they are.
553
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:59,520
Jarrah, in fact, which is very red and incredibly dense.
554
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,680
Is that the wood that's so hard you can't drill it with a wood drill,
555
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,080
you have to use a metal drill?
556
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:07,040
- That's right.
- Is it that one?
- Yeah. Ironbark, or something, they call it.
557
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:10,640
- Oh, brilliant.
- What makes me so suspicious of so much contemporary
558
00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:14,200
architecture is that the architecture dominates and life is banished,
559
00:34:14,200 --> 00:34:16,040
but here it's the other way round.
560
00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:19,840
- It's all about living here, isn't it?
- It's all about living.
561
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:21,480
Living in the beautiful space.
562
00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:29,880
This three-bedroom house has been carefully designed over two floors
563
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,720
to fit on a narrow strip of land between the hillside and the sea.
564
00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:40,160
Two separate wooden-clad structures divide the house into different zones.
565
00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,400
One is a living space, with a large dining room and kitchen area,
566
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:46,840
with guest rooms below.
567
00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:49,720
The other is the master bedroom,
568
00:34:49,720 --> 00:34:53,400
which is held aloft by a series of hardwood timbers that give
569
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:55,680
a sense of floating above the trees and water.
570
00:34:58,200 --> 00:35:02,200
A glazed bridge corridor through the trees links the main bedroom
571
00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:03,720
to the rest of the house.
572
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,520
Oh! SHE LAUGHS
573
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:28,400
Piers!
574
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:30,280
Isn't that water beautiful?
575
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:34,200
This takes me back about 30 years, to when I was a student in Sydney,
576
00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:36,560
because it's so Antipodean,
577
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:40,160
this bluey green water with the light on it
578
00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,360
and untouched bushland around it.
579
00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:48,120
And for all the abstract pleasures of landscape and place and beauty,
580
00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:52,440
actually, this is a really rich and interesting home,
581
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,160
where someone really lives here!
582
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:59,240
They do, and with so many beautiful things and with all this wonderful, rich wood.
583
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:02,800
And then, as you say, that peacock-blue water.
584
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,000
While the weather's good, I'm going to just explore outside,
585
00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:08,800
get my bearings and just see how it all fits together
586
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,560
and leave you in here to explore. There's lots to explore!
587
00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:15,760
There certainly is. I'm going to have a little beak.
588
00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:20,080
Nearly all of the hardwood timbers that support this house are reclaimed,
589
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,880
including the ironbark columns which prop up the master bedroom.
590
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:27,640
They were rescued from old railway bridges
591
00:36:27,640 --> 00:36:31,040
and transported to this remote location by barge,
592
00:36:31,040 --> 00:36:33,840
along with the glass windows and cedar cladding
593
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,920
which nestle this building into the landscape.
594
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,840
I really wanted to come back down to the boat to see the house from where
595
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,040
I first arrived, to make sense of it again,
596
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:44,600
because, when you're up close,
597
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:49,160
it's a building that doesn't really tell you how it's organised.
598
00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:53,280
Because you're so immersed in just that experience of being in the trees
599
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,600
with that incredible view of the water.
600
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,920
But from here, it is a very simple building.
601
00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:01,520
Constructionally, this house is really just like one of these piers.
602
00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,160
What there are, these uprights,
603
00:37:05,160 --> 00:37:08,360
there are some big, chunky bits of timber
604
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:14,960
and then everything else is a simple bit of beam with some tension wire
605
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:18,800
and then it's filled in and, really, that's it.
606
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,720
What's wonderful about this house is it's very unshowy,
607
00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:24,400
very straightforward and it's done brilliantly.
608
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:30,200
Once you leave the entertaining space of the kitchen and the dining area,
609
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:33,640
you go to the bedroom via this green corridor,
610
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:39,440
so there's glass and pushing up against the glass is the forest canopy.
611
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:44,320
It's rainforest here. It's like being in a terrarium.
612
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:45,440
Oh!
613
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,160
This is one sexy...
614
00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:53,880
..sexy bathroom.
615
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,560
Look at this tub. Oh!
616
00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,480
This guy's working life is...
617
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,800
To say high-powered doesn't really cover it -
618
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,400
he is a world famous cinematographer.
619
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:09,120
He's worked on some of the best films ever made.
620
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,640
I don't know if you know Midnight Express.
621
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,400
Ring any bells? Bugsy Malone?
622
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:16,680
Ring any bells?
623
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,800
Gravity? Planet Of The Apes?
624
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,040
Harry Potter? Heard of him at all?
625
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:24,560
This guy shot that.
626
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:28,600
And with all that comes a huge amount of stress,
627
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:33,920
so where better to come and unwind and get back in touch with nature?
628
00:38:35,640 --> 00:38:40,640
And the real things in life - wood and greenery...
629
00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:41,920
and the water!
630
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:45,640
- Piers?
- Yeah!
- Are you there?
631
00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:47,400
Hello, love!
632
00:38:47,400 --> 00:38:51,760
I drifted off. I was in a dreamlike state of just sensory bliss.
633
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:55,320
It is! That's exactly what it's like. It's dreamlike.
634
00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,200
What's great about the architecture is that it's taken a back seat.
635
00:38:58,200 --> 00:39:01,040
It doesn't disappear completely - there is still a building here,
636
00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:05,680
but actually, what the building never does is stop you being
637
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:11,680
immersed in this place, immersed in the dappled light, immersed in that turquoise water.
638
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:16,000
I'm not sure I've ever been somewhere that's so intertwined
639
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,920
with nature and that verdant bushland.
640
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,360
It's about living in the moment, this house, isn't it?
641
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:22,720
Yeah. And it changes.
642
00:39:22,720 --> 00:39:27,520
The light changes faster than anywhere I've been as it moves
643
00:39:27,520 --> 00:39:29,320
through this canopy.
644
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,600
And, of course, the light would have been incredibly important
645
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,200
for him as a cinematographer.
646
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:39,160
Homeowner Michael Saracen was closely involved with the design of this house
647
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:44,720
and entrusted local builder David Keeps to execute his precise vision.
648
00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:47,160
I never built a house, I didn't have a clue about how to do it.
649
00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:49,480
You know, film sets is all I know about.
650
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,480
I go on there and say, "When's it going to be ready? When can I light it?"
651
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,480
But I think your visual sense, I mean,
652
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:57,760
I know you're kind of making light of it,
653
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,280
but actually your visual sense is...
654
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:02,800
it's deeply rooted in this property.
655
00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:05,520
I mean, the use of light - it delivers.
656
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,960
Why did you look for this incredible piece of land in the first place?
657
00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:11,680
I came out once from the States,
658
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,160
looked at something which was further up the Sounds
659
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:17,560
and then I heard about this one, which is 75 acres, the light was nice,
660
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,720
and faces north so we had sun most of the day.
661
00:40:20,720 --> 00:40:24,120
I also loved that we could build close to the water.
662
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:26,160
I also love that we have a waterfall.
663
00:40:26,160 --> 00:40:28,680
- Yeah.
- So you've sort of got it in front of you and behind you.
664
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:30,680
And just stuff fell into place.
665
00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:34,760
There was something quite organic, I guess.
666
00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:37,840
So it was an immediate sort of response to the land and the light, was it?
667
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:39,800
Yeah. Yeah.
668
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:47,960
Michael is dogmatic about beauty, so, as the builder, you either say,
669
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:55,120
"I'm going to bust my gut to try and interpret what this guy means by beauty."
670
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:59,160
I came to the conclusion that I was better to ignore that
671
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:03,480
and fortuitously, I think, our tastes coalesce somewhat.
672
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:04,640
Yeah, no, absolutely.
673
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,920
This house is all about reclaimed wood and the use of wood
674
00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:11,920
and, actually, I have seen lots of reclaimed things around here.
675
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:13,360
All the hardwood is recycled.
676
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:15,000
I'm reclaimed!
677
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:18,840
I also like the sort of...its age.
678
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,800
I thought, "Why not have the house sort of constructed with old stuff which has some history?"
679
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:25,040
Well, I think that's what, I mean,
680
00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:27,920
you get a real sense of that when you walk in.
681
00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:29,920
It's a contemporary house,
682
00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:32,720
but it already has personality and life
683
00:41:32,720 --> 00:41:37,400
and you feel that it's had lots of areas and had lots of life before.
684
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:40,240
The thing is, you throw away the spirit level on a job like this.
685
00:41:40,240 --> 00:41:42,280
The house is like a work of art.
686
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,440
It's like an installation in an art gallery.
687
00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:49,240
The workings of the house are secondary to that primary goal
688
00:41:49,240 --> 00:41:52,280
of surrounding oneself with beauty.
689
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:57,120
This aesthetic was extended to the relationship the house
690
00:41:57,120 --> 00:41:59,040
has to the natural environment.
691
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,920
Preserving the beauty of the landscape that surrounded his waterside home
692
00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:04,400
was paramount to Michael.
693
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:07,920
This came with its own problems,
694
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:11,960
especially when David began building the house on this tricky site
695
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:15,000
so close to the shoreline and surrounded by trees.
696
00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:19,040
The soil here is extremely unstable...
697
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,120
All of this area is referred to
698
00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:25,320
by local authority as a natural hazard area.
699
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:30,480
- Gosh.
- So what we had to do here to support the house was drive railway
700
00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,080
iron six metres into the ground before we could pour any concrete.
701
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:39,280
So we needed to bring in a pile-driving break and,
702
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,880
along the way, there were a number of old beech trees.
703
00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:48,240
So I heroically climb onto the digger, with a little pruning saw,
704
00:42:48,240 --> 00:42:51,120
up to the top of one of the beech trees
705
00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,320
and surgically remove a little branch.
706
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,520
And then I hear a bellowing scream from the building platform.
707
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:00,360
- Who could that possibly be?
- That's the client.
708
00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,600
- You're joking.
- No.
- Yeah.
- Really?
709
00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:03,920
Sounds like an ask, doesn't it?
710
00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:08,520
What I learned very quickly was that the trees on this site were sacrosanct.
711
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:10,320
- Right.
- He wanted to take the stuff out.
712
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:14,680
I said to him very politely and kindly, "For every tree you take down, I cut off a finger."
713
00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:16,120
He said, "Oh, fair enough." So...
714
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,120
But look at it now. Isn't it incredible?
715
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:22,240
If they'd taken them all down, I just...the house feels settled in the landscape.
716
00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:23,640
Which is just thrilling.
717
00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,880
I think that is...that must be about your sense of composition and light
718
00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,400
- and space.
- I guess, yeah. I mean, that's for other people to say.
719
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:31,600
I'm not aware of it because this is how I like living.
720
00:43:31,600 --> 00:43:34,120
It's me, I'm saying it, it's up to me to say it!
721
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,400
I mean, it is a very peaceful place.
722
00:43:36,400 --> 00:43:40,720
The only sounds are birdsong, wind and water -
723
00:43:40,720 --> 00:43:42,840
that's it - and I love that.
724
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:45,160
The essence of, like, naturalness.
725
00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:47,680
I think it's also manifested in the building, to a degree,
726
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:53,120
the quality of the light, the quality of the design, the quality of the building - special.
727
00:43:54,960 --> 00:43:58,200
For what it's worth, I think it's...
728
00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:00,840
..perfect.
729
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:02,080
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Oh!
730
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:18,120
- Thank you.
- Thanks, Scotty.
731
00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:19,920
It feels a bit sad to be leaving.
732
00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:23,920
When we arrived here today,
733
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:27,440
I honestly thought this was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever been.
734
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:31,520
And we were concerned, weren't we, that the house wouldn't live up to the environment?
735
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:32,560
But it has, hasn't it?
736
00:44:32,560 --> 00:44:35,640
It has because it doesn't try and compete with the environment.
737
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:37,560
It doesn't try and add anything.
738
00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:42,360
It just subtly weaves itself into this place, so it's inseparable.
739
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:45,320
And it's sexy, too, Piers. Very, very sexy.
740
00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:07,640
Our last extraordinary house takes us to the very tip of south-east Canada
741
00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:09,480
and to the province of Nova Scotia.
742
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,600
We are heading to a three-bedroom holiday home set on the edge of this
743
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:22,120
wild coastline, which is prone to extreme swings in temperature and
744
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:23,440
the threat of rough storms.
745
00:45:24,720 --> 00:45:26,760
There's a real sense of mystery about Nova Scotia,
746
00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:29,760
all those Canadian writers and actually singer-songwriters and things.
747
00:45:29,760 --> 00:45:33,360
This is like some of those landscapes you see on those Swedish mysteries.
748
00:45:34,560 --> 00:45:38,680
The owners of our next home are both busy physicians and wanted to build
749
00:45:38,680 --> 00:45:42,360
themselves a secluded retreat on the edge of the Atlantic coast
750
00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:44,120
as close to the water as possible.
751
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:49,320
So they bought a plot of land with no infrastructure in place -
752
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:51,840
so remote it didn't even have a road.
753
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:59,600
They employed an award-winning local architect to take on the challenge
754
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:02,240
of designing them a waterfront home.
755
00:46:02,240 --> 00:46:05,120
The house needed to face the Atlantic Ocean head-on
756
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:09,360
and withstand all that Mother Nature has to throw at it.
757
00:46:09,360 --> 00:46:12,240
We're going to see a house that I know Piers is very excited about.
758
00:46:12,240 --> 00:46:14,280
I am excited. I feel like I'm on a pilgrimage
759
00:46:14,280 --> 00:46:17,680
because this architect I've thought about for about 20 years,
760
00:46:17,680 --> 00:46:21,040
and he's one of three or four architects in the world
761
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:25,480
who work at a really regional level doing quite modest things,
762
00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:28,400
but their work is known internationally.
763
00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:33,240
This is a Nova Scotian architect who's got a world-famous reputation?
764
00:46:33,240 --> 00:46:34,840
- Completely.
- How exciting!
765
00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:36,800
Really exciting. Really excited, actually.
766
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,840
I just hope it's not going to be a let down.
767
00:46:38,840 --> 00:46:40,840
They say don't meet your heroes.
768
00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:43,240
- What's his name?
- Brian MacKay-Lyons.
769
00:46:43,240 --> 00:46:45,520
You look a little bit scared.
770
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:47,680
Is it like meeting an old girlfriend or something,
771
00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:50,160
or a woman that you've always really fancied off the telly?
772
00:46:50,160 --> 00:46:53,120
- I think so. Yeah. Absolutely.
- You don't want her to be a disappointment?
773
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:55,200
I don't want her to be a big disappointment, no.
774
00:46:55,200 --> 00:46:57,200
Is this your Joanna Lumley, Piers?
775
00:46:58,240 --> 00:46:59,640
- Here we are.
- OK!
776
00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:25,600
It's quite formal, isn't it?
777
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:29,040
You arrive up a staircase between two buildings.
778
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:34,200
It's very sort of ordered and neat, isn't it?
779
00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:36,720
And it doesn't give much away, does it? Very closed.
780
00:47:36,720 --> 00:47:38,840
It's not announcing itself, is it, at all?
781
00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:41,360
No. No, and a secret door almost to go in.
782
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:43,600
Very hidden, isn't it?
783
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:44,920
Are you a bit disappointed?
784
00:47:44,920 --> 00:47:47,760
I am a bit. I think I'm a bit underwhelmed.
785
00:47:47,760 --> 00:47:50,920
- An entrance is important, isn't it?
- Really important. Really important.
786
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:55,440
I like the way it's perched delicately on this very rocky base, though,
787
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:57,160
because this is a rocky place.
788
00:47:57,160 --> 00:47:59,280
I mean, it's a beautiful bit of landscape.
789
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:01,960
And, at the moment, there's two or three, really,
790
00:48:01,960 --> 00:48:05,240
very simple boxes just perched on top.
791
00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:07,080
It's quite sort of intriguing, though.
792
00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:11,960
I suspect that it's all closed this side, but open the other,
793
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,080
- or at least that's what I'm hoping.
- Yeah.
794
00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:20,440
In keeping with the maritime theme of its coastal environment,
795
00:48:20,440 --> 00:48:25,280
Two Hulls was designed to resemble the bodies of two ships in dry dock.
796
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:32,920
Each separate hull of this building is designated for individual sleeping and living areas,
797
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,360
both connected by a large entrance hall.
798
00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:40,240
Built on a solid concrete foundation,
799
00:48:40,240 --> 00:48:43,480
the steel structure is clad with a cedar wooden shell
800
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:45,680
and has glass windows throughout.
801
00:48:47,360 --> 00:48:50,640
Both cantilever trusses were cleverly designed to jut out
802
00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:54,040
over the coastline, inviting the sea to pass under the house
803
00:48:54,040 --> 00:48:57,040
without damaging the building during rough storms.
804
00:49:01,440 --> 00:49:04,240
I want to watch you open the door because I want to see whether my
805
00:49:04,240 --> 00:49:07,200
theory is right - that you could hurtle backwards down those stairs.
806
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:09,560
I've got a feeling that's a design fault.
807
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:11,560
That would be really weird!
808
00:49:11,560 --> 00:49:14,400
- It would.
- But I'm hoping it opens in!
809
00:49:14,400 --> 00:49:18,800
THEY LAUGH
810
00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:22,480
- You knew that was going to happen!
- I did.
- You're so bad!
811
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:28,680
I think it's sort of growing on me,
812
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:32,000
but it's like a person, having to really probe them
813
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:35,320
and work quite hard to get some response.
814
00:49:35,320 --> 00:49:36,920
It's like meeting your heroines.
815
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:41,600
- It's like dreaming of meeting Betty Davis and ending up with Sue Pollard.
- Yes!
816
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:45,480
Not that there's anything wrong with you, Sue, you're adorable, but you know what I mean!
817
00:49:48,240 --> 00:49:50,040
Entering the master bedroom,
818
00:49:50,040 --> 00:49:54,840
the cleverness of this cantilever design is exposed in all its glory.
819
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:59,320
That, to me, looks like an architectural dream.
820
00:49:59,320 --> 00:50:04,480
This is interesting construction - big steel frame, big stiff truss.
821
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:06,360
And by the sea.
822
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:08,720
This room stretches out over the rocks below,
823
00:50:08,720 --> 00:50:10,360
as if it's suspended in midair,
824
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,200
and gives the impression of floating above the water.
825
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,640
I must say, this is, so far, this is my favourite space.
826
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:19,800
- Me, too.
- I like these.
827
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:23,000
- I think it's quite dynamic, quite exciting.
- Yeah, yeah.
828
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:29,040
- And also I feel if it was a really awful day, a kind of really...
- Howling gale.
- Howling gale, yeah.
829
00:50:29,040 --> 00:50:31,080
I could feel quite safe up here. I could witness it,
830
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:32,680
but I wouldn't feel like I was in it.
831
00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:34,760
And this is a just beautiful view.
832
00:50:34,760 --> 00:50:39,320
- It's beautiful.
- You feel you can breathe and you suddenly get the expanse of the view.
- Yeah.
833
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:45,560
The hull to the right contains a compact but practical galley kitchen
834
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:48,480
and a 32-foot-high living room.
835
00:50:49,520 --> 00:50:52,200
- I like seeing the silver birches.
- That's beautiful, isn't it, this?
836
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:55,880
- Yeah.
- I mean, looking down into this is really beautiful,
837
00:50:55,880 --> 00:50:58,640
really beautiful. Really mysterious and magical.
838
00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:03,320
This, by anyone's standards, is a really interesting,
839
00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:05,480
- quite beautiful space.
- I like the wood.
840
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:08,040
I actually like the sort of neutral palette in here -
841
00:51:08,040 --> 00:51:10,960
I think it works really well with the silver birches.
842
00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:14,040
- Have they got a telly? Is it behind those white things?
- I don't know.
843
00:51:14,040 --> 00:51:16,480
- I hope they haven't got one.
- You hope they haven't?
844
00:51:16,480 --> 00:51:20,920
- You don't need a telly here, do you?
- Well, you might want to watch us!
845
00:51:20,920 --> 00:51:23,360
HE LAUGHS
846
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:34,560
This is almost the first thing I've seen that is a little bit playful,
847
00:51:34,560 --> 00:51:38,840
you know, this is like going up in a ship's sort of galley, isn't it?
848
00:51:38,840 --> 00:51:41,200
- Nice arse, by the way.
- This is...
849
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:43,720
I don't know, it's a funny kind of chill-out space.
850
00:51:43,720 --> 00:51:46,440
- Oh?
- A sort of...dunno, really.
851
00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:49,240
HE WHISTLES
852
00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:51,800
SHE LAUGHS
853
00:51:51,800 --> 00:51:53,160
Is that the messy quarter?
854
00:51:53,160 --> 00:51:55,360
This is the messy quarter. I'm going to stay up here.
855
00:51:55,360 --> 00:51:58,000
It's where all the clobber is, all the games and all the stuff.
856
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:00,080
It's quite nice. It's a beautiful space.
857
00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:01,400
It's an interesting building.
858
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:03,640
It's a clever building. It's an extraordinary view.
859
00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:05,920
I mean, there's lots of good stuff here.
860
00:52:11,120 --> 00:52:15,880
This house is fairly sophisticated and it's a big bit of engineering,
861
00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:18,880
and there are two big trusses.
862
00:52:18,880 --> 00:52:20,000
And a truss, really,
863
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:24,000
is something that is very stiff but made up out of small pieces.
864
00:52:24,000 --> 00:52:26,080
Because that's a box, that will skew.
865
00:52:26,080 --> 00:52:29,040
You know, if you push there, the whole thing would skew around.
866
00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:31,920
So what you then need to do is make it very stiff and,
867
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:37,880
by triangulating it, you make it very stiff because triangles are inherently really stiff things.
868
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,320
This is now a really simple twig truss
869
00:52:41,320 --> 00:52:44,920
and this is a box, much like the house.
870
00:52:44,920 --> 00:52:48,360
You hold it down with a big bit of foundation,
871
00:52:48,360 --> 00:52:52,960
big bit of concrete in the ground, and then there's a pivot or a prop.
872
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:56,920
And what the prop is doing is allowing this piece to cantilever,
873
00:52:56,920 --> 00:52:58,880
and this is stopping it tipping.
874
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:02,000
This big bit of foundation is stopping it tipping in the ground.
875
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,720
Architects often get really excited by cantilevers
876
00:53:04,720 --> 00:53:09,440
because they're an opportunity to do a piece of non-domestic construction
877
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:11,560
and they look great.
878
00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:17,280
Owners Marcelo and Sylvia fell in love with this rugged Canadian
879
00:53:17,280 --> 00:53:20,640
coastline after moving to Nova Scotia from Brazil.
880
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:25,920
We started exploring the province
881
00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:29,360
and really fell in love with this coast here.
882
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:31,200
It's a beautiful coast.
883
00:53:31,200 --> 00:53:34,840
It's very natural, small fishing villages and really beautiful,
884
00:53:34,840 --> 00:53:39,200
beautiful beaches, which kind of reminded us of our beaches in Brazil.
885
00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:41,840
- Do they?
- They do, yeah.
- Why is that?
886
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:43,680
A little colder, but they do.
887
00:53:43,680 --> 00:53:47,080
Yes, quite a lot colder. How did you go about choosing your architect?
888
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:48,960
We knew of Brian's works,
889
00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:52,400
particularly around Halifax area, you know.
890
00:53:52,400 --> 00:53:55,520
One of our neighbours has a house that was built by him.
891
00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:59,000
And they are very, I mean, he has very strong style.
892
00:53:59,000 --> 00:54:02,720
His houses, you recognise them when you look at them.
893
00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:04,040
And we, you know,
894
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:08,760
we enjoy that style and we thought it would actually fit here nicely.
895
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,680
- Hey, Brian.
- Hey, Piers.
- How are you doing?
- Good.
896
00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:13,400
- Good to meet you.
- Good to meet you.
897
00:54:13,400 --> 00:54:16,280
- Finally. Been looking forward to meeting you.
- Yeah, likewise.
898
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:21,040
Award-winning architect Brian MacKay-Lyons is one of my architectural heroes.
899
00:54:21,040 --> 00:54:26,040
He's the man responsible for designing Marcelo and Sylvia's extraordinary coastal home.
900
00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:30,160
My partner and I grew up in and around shipyards, wooden shipbuilding,
901
00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:32,600
and so we would play in the shavings underneath the hulls.
902
00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:35,960
- OK, yeah.
- There is something archetypal about being in those boat
903
00:54:35,960 --> 00:54:38,800
sheds, underneath the boats, in the bellies of the boats.
904
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:40,920
So this is what it's all about, then?
905
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,680
I mean this, you know, the underside of a boat.
906
00:54:43,680 --> 00:54:47,880
I mean, it's not something that us landlubbers get to see very often.
907
00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:50,840
- Also it's a way of framing the landscape.
- Yes, yes.
908
00:54:50,840 --> 00:54:52,880
Like, right now, I don't see much sky
909
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,920
and I see water and beach and rocks.
910
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:59,560
And so it frames the world and makes it a very different thing when it's,
911
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:01,600
like, cropped by the building.
912
00:55:01,600 --> 00:55:03,960
So this is really the experience that the building
913
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:07,560
- is supposed to be about, is the under, the between.
- Yeah.
914
00:55:07,560 --> 00:55:12,120
You know, I always think the places between the buildings and the land is really the object.
915
00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:16,440
- Like in music, you know, the rests in music are as important as the notes.
- Yeah. Absolutely.
916
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:19,440
Tell me a little about the conversation you had with the clients -
917
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:22,360
- or the ongoing conversation.
- Well, the first day on the site -
918
00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:25,960
Frank Lloyd Wright said, "If you don't get an idea the first day on the site with the client,
919
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:27,200
"you're not going to get one."
920
00:55:27,200 --> 00:55:29,680
So first day we came here, we were climbing on the rocks,
921
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:33,600
we all felt that this was the place where the landscape was most dramatic,
922
00:55:33,600 --> 00:55:34,800
closest to the water.
923
00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:37,800
You conceived of a building.
924
00:55:37,800 --> 00:55:39,200
Was it this building?
925
00:55:39,200 --> 00:55:40,560
I think fundamentally it was.
926
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:43,840
It was the scheme that we did together with the client first day.
927
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:52,880
But building a house with spectacular ocean views in this wilderness didn't come easy.
928
00:55:52,880 --> 00:55:57,480
With no infrastructure, creating a road to access this remote plot
929
00:55:57,480 --> 00:56:01,680
took an entire year of planning and careful construction.
930
00:56:01,680 --> 00:56:05,000
That's a major road you've had to build there, isn't it?
931
00:56:05,000 --> 00:56:08,120
Because was there nothing there before, maybe a walking track or nothing?
932
00:56:08,120 --> 00:56:13,000
- Nothing at all?
- That road had to go through rocks.
- How did they do it?
933
00:56:13,000 --> 00:56:16,360
They had to dynamite a lot of...
934
00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:21,080
And we wanted to destroy the least amount possible trees,
935
00:56:21,080 --> 00:56:23,760
and so that's why it's a bit...
936
00:56:23,760 --> 00:56:28,520
You have to see where it will be better not to destroy the trees.
937
00:56:30,680 --> 00:56:32,880
These people were very gentle clients.
938
00:56:32,880 --> 00:56:35,560
You know, they weren't pushy, but they were very curious.
939
00:56:35,560 --> 00:56:37,440
Intellectually curious people.
940
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:43,840
And actually interested in art for its own value,
941
00:56:43,840 --> 00:56:46,080
- which makes the best kind of client.
- Totally.
942
00:56:46,080 --> 00:56:49,200
Coming back now, a couple of years later,
943
00:56:49,200 --> 00:56:53,600
are you as in love with the building as you were when you finished it?
944
00:56:53,600 --> 00:56:57,320
You know, I know it sounds terrible to say, but, yes, I am, actually.
945
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:03,000
Are you happy? I mean, do you love this house?
946
00:57:03,000 --> 00:57:04,640
- Oh, yes.
- Yeah, I love it.
947
00:57:04,640 --> 00:57:08,800
Being surrounded by nature and almost being part of nature,
948
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:13,160
even though we are in a steel structure that's quite huge!
949
00:57:13,160 --> 00:57:17,280
But we are with nature and it's a beautiful...you know, we love it. Yeah.
950
00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:24,560
It's a beautiful piece of land, isn't it, Piers?
951
00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:26,120
It is beautiful, actually.
952
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:29,240
You know, now when I look back, I mean,
953
00:57:29,240 --> 00:57:32,480
it is a dramatic building and actually very beautiful,
954
00:57:32,480 --> 00:57:36,040
sitting in the silver birches in the mist brooding there.
955
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:39,840
Marcelo and Sylvia love their building.
956
00:57:39,840 --> 00:57:41,320
- They do.
- They love their house.
957
00:57:41,320 --> 00:57:44,480
They've got their beautiful beach and all their lovely wildlife,
958
00:57:44,480 --> 00:57:46,760
and that's what matters at the end of the day.
959
00:57:46,760 --> 00:57:48,920
- And that's a happy ending.
- It is.
960
00:57:56,240 --> 00:57:58,800
Next time, Piers and I will be exploring
961
00:57:58,800 --> 00:58:03,040
some of the most extraordinary subterranean homes in the world.
962
00:58:03,040 --> 00:58:04,920
It's a hobbit house!
963
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:09,640
Discovering how architects have overcome the challenges of building underground.
964
00:58:09,640 --> 00:58:11,360
It's stressful, it's tiring.
965
00:58:11,360 --> 00:58:14,800
'It was beyond what we had hoped and imagined.'
966
00:58:14,800 --> 00:58:16,120
It's really exciting!
81871
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