Malator

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Malator
A glass structure, built into a hilltop.
Malator in 2005
General information
Architectural styleEarth house
AddressDruidston
Town or cityPembrokeshire
CountryWales
Coordinates51°48′44″N 5°06′05″W / 51.8123°N 5.1015°W / 51.8123; -5.1015
Completed1998
ClientBob Marshall-Andrews
OwnerBob Marshall-Andrews
Design and construction
Architecture firmFuture 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 , and has been received positively by critics with Architectural Digest listing it as one of the most innovative houses of the 20th century.

Description[]

View of Malator from above

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]

History[]

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]

Reception[]

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.[6] 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]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Images of Contemporary Wales". Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  2. ^ a b Barnwell, Rachael; Suggett, Richard (2012). Y Tu Mewn i Gartrefi Cymru / Inside Welsh Homes. Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. ISBN 978-1-871-18446-4.
  3. ^ "7 Amazing Underground Homes". Realty Today. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Homes By The Sea examines beautiful coastal homes in Pembrokeshire". Western Telegraph. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b Lloyd, Thomas; Orbach, Julian; Scourfield, Robert (2004). Pembrokeshire. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10178-2.
  6. ^ "The Most Innovative Houses of the Last Century". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 4 April 2016.

External links[]

  • Media related to Malator at Wikimedia Commons

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