Suffolk House Slides through the Seasons
Written by Lynn DeRocco
Ross and Sally Russell, along with friend and architect Alex de Rijke of dRMM Architecture, built the incredible Sliding House in Suffolk, England.
The home, in a nutshell, is a traditional farmhouse encased in a wood-clad steel wrapper. But get this – the home’s exterior shell can actually glide away via tracks with hidden motors to either conceal or reveal the living spaces below. Should the couple feel like stargazing tonight, for example, the house exterior literally slides away to open up floor-to-ceiling views of the outdoors. The whole process takes six minutes.
With “some capital, some time, and some enthusiasm,” the Russells’ dwelling was designed and built in 12 months and completed in January, 2009. It is hard to imagine the soft-spoken Russell and mellow de Rijke bubbling with enthusiasm, and watching the segments of the house extrude from their shell, the whole project has eeriness about it, like the slow passage of time, which belies the excitement of the house itself.
The Suffolk House, which they built on 3.5 acres, is the couple’s retirement home cum winter retreat cum summer house. With the use of a remote control, the two-level structure slides open and retracts as the house shrinks or grows. In slow motion, like sand through an hourglass, the moving abode alternately becomes a cozy shelter masquerading as a simple rural dwelling, or blossoms into an ultra-modern solarium. One section looks like a little red barn, another a natural wood barn, and the third a glass and steel structure that is decidedly not a barn, but of similar dimensions, like mutating triplets. Or, looking at the arrangement from the other direction, a metal skeleton reminiscent of a modern art museum that is next shod in wood, then painted red.
Fanciful descriptions aside, the Sliding House is fully functional, offering the usual spaces of living and dining rooms, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom (albeit a sometimes exposed rooftop one), sitting room and guest annex. There’s also an offset Monopoly house-inspired garage. The track can even be expanded in the future if the couple decides to add a swimming pool to their indoor/outdoor sprawl.
Sliding House was designed to take advantage of seasons, both in terms of views and temperature. One can let in infinitely more sunlight by opening a house instead of a window, for instance, or, by utilizing a smaller area, keep things warmer. The variable spaces act like self-contained zones for the couple to enjoy throughout the year.
Should the pair be beset by moods, one can imagine, rather than slamming doors, a husband sulkily pressing a button to enclose himself in a darkened room, or, conversely, in a fit of summertime ecstasy, Sally, with a flourish, exposing herself to the sunlit wonders of the countryside. One should and must not imagine what may occur on the isolated rooftop when the Russells are getting on well.
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