Alfred Munkenbeck of Munkenbeck & Marshall has designed several house with moats: “Water doubles the pleasure of the building be in effect doubling the elevation – you have the building appearing to float on water and the reflection of the building upside down in that water. Moats also give a feeling of detachment, which makes them extra special in the context of a busy city. That is why Venice has such an extraordinary feeling. When you are in a house surrounded by water it feels as though you are floating on an island, cut adrift from the frenzy of modern life. Nico Rensch of Architeam agrees: ”Water is an additional architectural element used to express the philosophy of something calm and Zen-like. Our lives are increasingly mad and crazy – the motion, sound and look of water have the effect of tranquility”.
Not that the modern moat is a direct copy of its historic ancestor. Architects, such as M & M and Rensch, design uncompromisingly modern buildings, so when they introduce water it is through shallow, straight-edged canals and rills, not the wide, deep curves of yesteryear. In a central London site, Rensch has used a rill of water not only for its peaceful effect, but also to visually separate two areas. “The owner has a large listed Georgian house and we designed a studio that adjoins the house. Because it is in a conservation area, I had to choose a certain brick for the exterior that would not be my first choice. Minimalist architecture requires that a building becomes more and more refined in its detail, but less and less expressive in terms of decoration or ornamentation”.