AN UNUSUAL modernist home in the Suffolk countryside has been shortlisted for a national architecture award.Wilderness House, in Westleton, is a contemporary country house, with a flat roof and large sections of glass.

AN UNUSUAL modernist home in the Suffolk countryside has been shortlisted for a national architecture award.

Wilderness House, in Westleton, is a contemporary country house, with a flat roof and large sections of glass.

The seven-bedroom property, which boasts approximately 35 acres of grounds and a heated swimming pool, is on the shortlist of four finalists for the BD Architect of the Year Award.

The house was commissioned by Sara Low, who battled with Suffolk Coastal District Council for several years before planning permission was granted for the greenfield site.

Permission was eventually awarded using a planning law which allowed a country house to be built on greenfield sites as long as they were of exception architectural merit.

The house was nominated for the award due to its use of local traditional materials used in a contemporary way.

Mrs Low, who designed the building with London-based Paul + O Architects, died in the summer of 2007 aged 70.

Paul Acland, director of Paul + O Architects, said: “We are tremendously pleased that the house has been selected for the final stages of the award.

“It's great that the house has been given the recognition it deserves, Mrs Low would have really loved this - her visions of what the house should be were completely marvellous.

Before creating Wilderness House, Mrs Low, used to live in Darsham House in nearby Darsham, a large Grade II listed house built in 1679.

The winner of the BD Architect of the Year Award is to be announced on November 5.