It combines modern design, adaptive reuse, sustainability, and accessibility Developer Richard Pender really loves his parents. After the Northumberland, United Kingdom-based Pender decided that his parents needed a more adaptable, modern home, he co-designed and built the perfect abode in their backyard?most of it by hand. The end result is not only beautiful home, but one that?s also sustainable and accessible.

"The underlining principle in the brief was that the new dwelling should be a highly sustainable, energy efficient construction, that should facilitate ease of living for the elderly," Pender said in an interview with Dezeen. ?Secondary to that was the desire for a clean, contemporary architecture that stood distinct from, but respectful to, the much loved traditional farmhouse and neighboring buildings."
Clad in locally sourced stone and larch boards, the home visually echoes the property?s other historic structures in its materials, gabled roof, and proportions. The two-story building was co-designed with Dan Kerr of MawsonKerr Architects, and organized with bedrooms on the lower floor and a large open living room and kitchen above?to give visitors the best view of the surrounding countryside. It was built adjacent to an old stone barn which was converted in a lovely example of adaptive reuse into the master bedroom.

The structure is air tight, insulated, and designed to prevent thermal bridging?al...