Skylark is a minimalist family residence located in Shropshire, United Kingdom, designed by House Of EM. The project arrives at an interesting moment for British residential architecture – a new practice staking its debut on a home that tries to reconcile mid-century spatial clarity with a deep attentiveness to the Welsh Marches landscape. Founded by former Michaelis Boyd directors Emma Bodie and Matthew Sanders, House Of EM chose a previously overgrown plateau above the River Teme as their first public statement, and the site choice itself signals intent. The view is not incidental to the design; it organizes it.
The F-shaped plan is the structural argument of the house. By offsetting the upper floor within the two-storey portion of the arrangement, the architects compress the perceived massing from certain approaches while freeing the rear and side elevations to open fully toward the surrounding landscape. It is a strategy reminiscent of the sectional thinking in Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea – where volume modulation mediates between shelter and openness – though here the Shropshire setting demands its own register. The stepped-down sitting room, kitchen, and dining area are defined by joinery and an integrated fireplace rather than walls, preserving the continuity of the ground floor while establishing legible zones for family living. A skyroof punctuates the double-height entry hall, drawing light down onto the stair and creating a moment of vertical release within an otherwise horizontal composition.
The brick selection anchors Skylark to its county with some precision. The linear light grey units from Danish manufacturer Randers Tegl were chosen after extensive testing with sample panels, and their castellated application across the facades – borrowing directly from the battered concrete of Herzog and de Meuron’s Tate Modern extension – introduces shadow rhythm and textural depth that would otherwise be difficult to achieve with such a restrained palette. The clients were involved in determining the specific shade, pulling the material choice toward something with a genuine local inflection rather than a generic contemporary vernacular.
