Tour a concrete Thames 'villa', on sale for £5 million

This Oxfordshire home has so much going for it, it’s hard to know where to start. Designed by Sarah Griffiths and Amin Taha of London practice Williams Griffiths, it has private moorings on its broad Thames frontage. In 2018, two years after its construction, it won a RIBA Project of the Year award and a House of the Year nod from Grand Designs. And earlier this year it featured in the Bong Joon Ho film Mickey 17.

Photography: Knight Frank.

The owners commissioned a ‘country villa for the 21st century’ to replace the decaying 1950s bungalow on the two-acre site, taking inspiration from Culham Court, an 18th-century house downriver. The architects used reinforced concrete in their design, citing architectural integrity, durability, longevity and high thermal mass. Corten steel fretwork breaks up the concrete and glazing; a brise soleil at the rear of the house mitigates heat in summer yet maximises solar gain in winter. Satisfying the directive to consider sustainability are 44 solar panels along the flat roof.

Photography: Knight Frank.

The ground-floor layout incorporates the bulk of living spaces, with the open-plan living and dining rooms, kitchen and principal bedroom suite. Four additional en suite bedrooms are upstairs. To the rear of the house is a Corten steel brise soleil at ground floor level, which mitigates the impact of the sun in summer while maximising solar gain in winter.

A Corten steel-clad gate house at the main entrance has space for a studio, office and garage with a one-bed guest flat above. From here, a large reflecting pool extends to the main house. And all around are mature private gardens. The lawns reach down to the river, enclosed by box and yew hedging and mature beech, willow, pine, yew, hazel, cedar and walnut trees.

Knight Frank has listed the house for £4,950,000.

Photography: Knight Frank.

Tour a concrete Thames ‘villa’, on sale for £5 million

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