Architect SpacelabUK has designed a stark, geometrically pure house that sits on the Cambridgeshire countryside like a square drawn on a very flat line …
Young architect SpacelabUK has completed its first project, a £135,000 private house in the countryside near Peterborough.

Called Westlake House, the three-bedroomed property will feature early next year in Channel 4's Grand Designs series.

The 105 m2 house, designed as a timber cube cut through with horizontal slots on two of its elevations, is a striking intervention into the flat countryside. The simple, modern aesthetic of the exterior carries through to the interior, where minimal decor plays second string to the view through the two-storey fully glazed facade.

The main living space is double-height volume and orientated towards a timber pier that pushes out into the surrounding landscape.

The final touch is to illuminate the cube at night, creating an eerie spectre for passing travellers.

SpacelabUK was formed in 2002 by Nathan Lonsdale and Andrew Budgen, who had previously worked for Cambridge property management company Ambury. The duo were instrumental in setting up the firm's architectural division, Ambury Architecture & Project Management.

At Ambury, Lonsdale and Budgen designed and managed architectural and maintenance projects for clients such as Anglia Water and magazine publisher Emap, while pitching for new work in the residential and corporate sectors.

The business boomed and the duo decided to buy themselves out of the group. Lonsdale and Budgen struck a deal with Ambury – they would continue to work on a number of projects that they had commissioned in return for a share of the profits as the projects came to fruition.

SpacelabUK still works for Ambury as an architect and spatial design consultant. It is also designing a three-storey residential property in France and undertaking commercial interior design for undisclosed firms in the London area.