This remote brick house in Wales’ Llanibster – intended as a space for calm and reflection – is the result of a collaboration between designer John Pawson and philosopher Alain de Botton.

Called Tŷ Bywyd, or Life House, it’s the latest rental property created by Living Architecture, a holiday home company with an emphasis on contemporary design, founded by de Botton.

Pawson designed the 260 sq m structure, using 80,000 handmade light and dark-coloured Danish bricks. The floors of the property are concrete while its ceilings are made of Douglas fir timber.

‘In this house I wanted to create a modern, secular retreat, where guests can experience the benefits of introspection, solitude and immersion in nature,’ says Pawson. ‘The location is wonderfully remote and I wanted to create a sanctuary where people feel at home, but never insulated from the elemental character of the surrounding landscape.’

Inside Life House – sited on the lower slopes of a valley near Llandrindod Wells – are themed rooms, including a ‘contemplation chamber’ and a library bedroom, featuring eastern and western literature. There’s also a music room, equipped with a stereo, and a bath with views of the countryside.

Added de Botton: ‘With Life House, we were looking to reinvent the monastery for a secular modern age, based upon the concept of a retreat, to take us back to the earliest days of Buddhism in the east and of Stoic philosophy in the West.’

Life House, which sleeps six, will be available to rent from 11 July for £3,200 a week. Living Architecture is now taking bookings.

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