'Invisible' Super Cool Mirror House for Sale

This super cool 'Invisible House' recently constructed in Warwickshire, is currently under offer having been advertised at a sale price of £2,000,000. Birmingham based BPN Architects came up with this unique concept, as a solution to Paragraph 80 The national planning policy that allow houses of exceptional design to be constructed in remote locations beyond the normal acceptable development boundaries.

Under the English National Planning Policy Framework, the design and construction of new houses is generally only supported and approved in locations where there are already settlements, villages, towns or cities. This is in order to promote sustainable development i.e. all new housing should be located where there are facilities which support family living, where there are local facilities such as schools, shops and doctors surgeries, and these are easily accessed on-foot or by public transport.

The exception to the rule are truly innovative houses of architectural distinction which can be built in remote and sensitive locations which are approved under Paragraph 80 (formerly Paragraph 79 and originally nick-named 'Gummer's Law'.

The Architect's solution in this case, in order to visually 'secrete' the building into the woodland setting was to completely clad the building in mirrors, a concept which has been utilised on many multi-storey office blocks in large central city locations but not generally at a domestic scale. The challenges of projects such as this are generally unseen (pardon the pun!). Edge detailing, external downpipes, buildings services etc. all of the paraphernalia usually adorning the outside of a building need to be hidden, and then if the concept is continues to the interior, hiding all of these essential aspects and keeping a clean cool environment takes some thought, time and cost.

Houses of this nature are exciting and ground-breaking, but the issues can also be challenging. In this case a regular cleaning routine is required in order to keep the exterior 'spick and span', and structures such as this are not explained-to or understood by the local wildlife or our avian friends! The interior, if kept minimal with a lot of hard surfaces tends to result in a sterile environment which can be noisy and unfriendly.

We love the innovation and this solution to Paragraph 80, but the majority of these conceptual designs present challenges that a normal, traditional construction home does not encounter.