ASTLEY CASTLE, WARWICKSHIRE

摘要

Setting an unashamedly modern house within a ruined 12th-century castle took vision and courage, both on the part of the Landmark Trust, custodian of the site, and architects at Witherford Watson Mann. This 21 st-century addition to a 900-year-old building, joining the many amendments and alterations of previous owners - including one incarnation as a stately home hotel before fire destroyed most of it in the Seventies - won 2013's Stirling Prize, with the judges praising its inspired balance of 'creativity, preservation and conservation'. Beautifully detailed and crafted, the house is filled with a warmth and materiality that complements and enhances the surrounding picturesque decay, with exposed brickwork and wooden ceiling beams, wood floors, simple tiles and an eclectic collection of largely wood fixtures and furniture. 'All of the brick is built on medieval wall footings. Everything bears directly and is built out of the masonry, which is why it's binding the masonry together,' says WWM's Stephen Witherford.