Derwent Valley Villa Duffield, Derbyshire, East Midlands Building News, English Architecture Award
Derwent Valley Villa, Duffield Building
29 April 2022
Derwent Valley Villa, Duffield, Derbyshire, England, UK
Thursday 28th of April 2022 – five projects were selected by the expert jury, who visited all of the shortlisted projects.
Design: Blee Halligan

Photos © Henry Woide
Derwent Valley Villa, Duffield, Derbyshire, UK
Jury Report
The first quality that strikes you on arriving at Derwent Valley Villa is the relaxed modesty and straightforward approach to materials and entry. The surprises and delights are held back for your experience in walking through the house. The plan is orchestrated as a series of axial routes that always end in framed views of the landscape beyond. The house has been deliberately pulled apart, pinning the entry court and guest wing in the southeast corner, while pushing the main living spaces to the northwest. This sets up a promenade from entry all the way to a spectacular willow seen beyond the main living room, passing through garden courts on either side of the glazed link that separates the wings.

On reaching the living room a new route crosses your path connecting kitchen dining on your left to a snug and playroom on the right, reached beyond a stair slotted between brick walls rising to access the bedrooms above. In moving around the house, you pass through a sequence of discrete garden courts that create their own sequence of outdoor...