The happy architect: Alain de Botton wants you to rent a cantilevered house in Suffolk like the one featured in Grand Designs

A recent episode of Grand Designs followed one couple’s epic attempt to recreate the cantilevered James Speyer house made famous in Eighties cult movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

It was a classic episode – budget overruns, design pivots, tears, even a death.

If it gave you a taste for cantilevered living but you don’t have half a million quid to fund your own steel and glass self-build don’t worry, because the philosopher and writer Alain De Botton is in a position to make your architectural dreams come true – for a much lower price.

In 2006 De Botton founded Living Architecture with his philanthropic mates.

In their own words, they “wish to enhance the appreciation of modern architecture, whilst providing the opportunity for an exceptional holiday experience, in a space designed by an outstanding architectural practice.”

In short, it’s a cross between a club for deep-pocketed architecture buffs and a not-for-profit holiday home rental company so that more people can experience what it’s like to live in and experience outstanding modern architecture.

Living Architecture has six holiday homes on its books, all of which are designed by a notable architecture practice.

The Balancing Barn was designed by the Dutch practice MVRDV, a Rotterdam-based architecture and urban design practice founded in 1993.

It stands on the edge of a tranquil nature reserve a few miles inland from the Suffolk coast, near the towns of Walberswick and Aldeburgh.

Clad in reflective steel tiles, the house dramatically cantilevers over the landscape, providing views from its huge panoramic windows over woods, ponds and meadows.

It sits in six acres of gardens and is surrounded by 138 acres of Suffolk Wildlife Trust land.

There’s a fully-equipped kitchen and all four bedrooms have an en-suite. There’s even a swing hanging from the cantilevered end of the building.

It’s currently free from October 5-11 and then fully booked until early January. Why not book in a post-Christmas winter break or February half term firing up the wood burner and enjoying cosy evenings in front of the fire in your very own masterpiece?

Available to book via Living Architecture.