Designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Creek Vean is a residential project of a modern house that accommodates an exceptional collection of modern paintings and sculptures. This house sits at the top of a steeply sloping hill with stunning views over the woods, creek, and sea. Completed in 1966 with 350m² in size, this house also accommodates a large number of books and built along two axes.
Rooms
This house comprises dining, open-plan living, and kitchen areas, as well as a self-contained guest suite with a separate entrance and workshop, a bedroom, and a study. This house also becomes a place to keep and display an exceptional collection of modern paintings and sculptures, including a large number of books.
Structure
The house is built along two axes: the east-west axis and the internal axis. The east-west axis leads from the car parking area and road across the bridge to the front door of the house while the internal axis runs north-south with a form of a picture and sculpture gallery, highlighted by a glazed roof, floodlit. This internal axis also connects all rooms start on the highest roof terrace, ending at the garage.
The self-contained flat north-west up the valley, the bedroom west across the creek, and the two-storey living wing faces south towards the sea. All ‘private’ rooms are opened to the galley by large sliding screens to create long vistas throughout the house. The living room of the house spans across the kitchen and dining area with voids at the back and front.
Materials
The external and internal walls are honey-colored concrete blocks while the floors are blue Welsh slate. The house windows are frameless toughened glass and sliding in anodized aluminum tracks. The site of the house is planted with trees, coarse grass, ivy, and wild shrubs while the roofs are planted with hanging creepers to integrate the house into its natural cliff-side setting.
Creek Vean Gallery
Photography: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners