In a booklet produced at the time of the completion of Radiant House, Richard Weston describes the house as “simple and calm, belying its structural sophistication”. Much inspired by the great Modernist architects Alvar Aalto and Le Corbusier, Weston wanted to combine formal elegance with cutting-edge construction techniques. He goes on to sum up the house as “walls of hand-made bricks framing a continuous open volume which unfolds beneath a 5.5 tonne plywood monocoque roof supported by structural glass”. This technical description belies the more poetic qualities of this architecturaltour-de-force.

Weston designed Radiant House for his own occupation, but never lived in it himself. Soon after its construction, he moved to Cardiff to take up a position as Professor of Architecture at the Welsh School of Architecture (a position he still holds today). The current owners have made some very minor changes to Weston’s original concept, most notably in the garden, which they have laid out to their own design.

The house’s relationship with nature (specifically the garden and the sky) is central to the design. “Radiant House began with a simple idea, reflecting my love of English gardens and Finnish nature: a walled garden [the interior space] harbouring a ‘Finnish island’ [the service pods], protected by a roof floating above the walls like a beneficent cloud.” This comment from Weston explains the theoretical basis of his design, a theory that was eventually put into practice with the help of numerous skilled technicians.

Of the many people that assisted with the construction of Radiant House, perhaps the most important was the structural engineer Mark Lovell of Oscar Faber (www.fabermaunsell.com). It was Lovell that provided the solution of the spectacular roof, a structure that resists wind loads and acts as a sunshade in summer. Also of interest architecturally is the raised floor, which houses the drainage and heating and electrical services, and leaves the walls free of switches and radiators. “Throughout the house we have tried to use fine materials as directly and honestly as possible: despite the engineering brilliance which has made the realisation of this idea, I hope it will become a tranquil setting for life, receptive to the nuances of nature.”

Creating quite a stir when it was constructed almost fifteen years ago, the house is still much discussed and admired today and will no doubt continue to be so for many years to come.