Well, somebody is going to - these extraordinary houses, designed by top architects for an idyllic Cotswolds location, have all just won planning permission.
What could you possibly do with that £2m you have lying around in your bank account? You would like to sink it into a holiday home, but only if it's something truly avant-garde - but how to go about designing it?
This is an intractable problem that no doubt keeps you awake night after night. But at last, your wish is granted in jaw-dropping style by property tycoon Jeremy Paxton. He has asked 22 of the world's most inspired architects to come up with 46 ultra-modern dream holiday homes and to spare no expense doing it. The project, he says, "fulfils a lifelong ambition to wake up the architecture of this country and create a development in the Cotswold countryside that stands alone on a global scale for its design and ecological excellence".
That phrase "Cotswold countryside" should alert you to the danger that this could all amount to a Sunday afternoon daydream. But no, Paxton owns 140 ha of open countryside and gravel ponds at Lower Mills Estate near Cirencester where he has already developed 200 homes for sale.
Paxton's current batch of waterside houses are in a completely different league to their precursors. Labelled "landmark houses", they shoot off into a galaxy of architectural creativity and fantasy.
More to the point, the first eight house designs won full planning permission last month. What's more, Paxton's own construction company, Conservation Builders, is ready to start on site.
So, what's the catch? Well, there's that little matter of the £2m in readies, which Paxton wants up front. But don't wait around too long: the houses have been on the market since last July and, so we're told, contracts for sale are soon to be signed.
Alsop & Partners set out to connect inside and outside by means of a solid, timber-clad vault that is extruded at one end in transparent glass.
Alsop & Partners set out to connect inside and outside by means of a solid, timber-clad vault that is extruded at one end in transparent glass. The living-room floorplate can be slid out to create an open-air terrace with the same effect. Upstairs four amoebic "pods" contain bedrooms and bathroom.
Piers Gough of CWG Architects proposes a wrap of split cedar logs that spirals lazily around his three storey house to create "a relaxed Guggenheim" inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright's New York gallery. Oval plans come with a small terrace on each floor plus a rooftop pool.
Richard Reid & Associates came up with a high-tech circular holiday machine. To catch the sun and channel winds, the top floor rotates 360° and roofs open up like aeroplane wing flaps. A sun terrace spreads out on the middle floor and large extensions are built into hillside below.
Featherstone Associates has borrowed features from the native Bee Orchid to blend with the landscape. The flower has lent its oval shape to the building, while "petals" unfurl at the front to reveal a clear "seed". Timber shingles are burned in places to mimic the flower's camouflage.
Sutherland Hussey Architects has combined a boathouse and family home in a three-storey box open at either end and wrapped in timber slats. The timber serves as a giant arbor providing sun-dappled shade and privacy to terraces on two levels and a single-lane swimming pool.
Roger Sherman Architecture has incorporated three sliding sections, each 2.75 m wide, into a single-storey house. The sections can slide out on to the water to serve as narrow floating bedrooms. Rising overhead is a large umbrella canopy that opens out to reveal a shower, bar and barbeque.
Eva Jiricna Architects frees up the precious waterside by raising its house up one storey on stilts. The house is a double-decker cabin with glazed walls either end. By cladding the building in glass-reinforced plastic, it could be built by boat builders and remain maintenance free.
Alison Brooks Architects has arranged its house around three sides of a private courtyard. It is a sculptural assembly of flat trapezoidal planes, some of them opaque panels faced in Corten pre-rusted steel and others mirror-glazed walls that switch from reflecting the surrounding landscape to offering views inside.
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