Malator is a house in Druidston, Pembrokeshire, Wales, built in the

Earth house Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

architectural style. It was built for, and owned by, former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

Bob Marshall-Andrews Robert Graham Marshall-Andrews KC (born 10 April 1944) is a British barrister, author, and retired politician, who was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Medway from 1997 to 2010. He defected from his former party at the 2017 general el ...

. The architectural firm who designed the building was

Future Systems Future Systems was a London-based architectural and design practice, formerly headed by Directors Jan Kaplický and Amanda Levete. Future Systems was founded by Kaplický and David Nixon after working with Denys Lasdun, Norman Foster, Renzo P ...

. Malator has appeared on television series such as the

More4 More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas. Content When ...

programme '' Homes by the Sea'', and has been received positively by critics with ''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast, which also publishes internat ...

'' listing it as one of the most innovative houses of the 20th century.

Description

Malator is an

, built with an exterior glass wall facing

Druidston Druidston is a hamlet within the community of Nolton and Roch on the St Brides Bay coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. Druidston Cross is an eastern outlier of the hamlet. The coast is 1/2 mile to the west where cliffs up to 80m in height overlook a r ...

Haven and looking out over

St Brides Bay St Brides Bay ( cy, Bae Sain Ffraid) is a bay in western Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Either Skomer Island or the mainland extremity of Wooltack Point at the western end of the Marloes Peninsula marks the southern limit of the bay whilst its no ...

, Pembrokeshire. 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. Multi-coloured pods in that large room divide the space.

History

It was built in 1998 for

, QC, who was MP for the constituency of

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to for ...

from 1997 to 2010, and his wife Gill Marshall-Andrews. The architects on the project were

, a design company. The design of the building has resulted in it locally being referred to as the "

Teletubby ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on thei ...

house" in reference to the building from the BBC children's television series. It was built as an earth house for design reasons rather than as part of any ecological requirement. The building appeared in the first episode of the property television show ''Homes by the Sea'', broadcast on the

channel on 16 October 2014. In the show, Marshall-Andrews gave a tour to presenter Charlie Luxton. The history of the Malator's conception, design and construction is described in an interview of

Ivan Margolius Ivan Margolius (born 27 February 1947) is an author, architect and propagator of Czech culture and technology. Life Margolius was born in Prague, son of JUDr Rudolf Margolius, Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade, and Heda Margolius Kovály, Cze ...

with Gill Marshall-Andrews in ''Jan Kaplický - For the Future and For Beauty'' book.

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." ''

'' magazine included Malator in a list of the most innovative houses of the 20th century. 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 0th century.

References

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=August 2016 Houses in Pembrokeshire 1998 in Wales Houses completed in 1998