Low-budget ‘no-fuss’ house wins top architecture award
A THREE-BEDROOM home built with only one bathroom to cut down on cleaning has been named house of the year by architects.
House Lessans, an L-shaped property built on the site of a former farmstead in the rolling country of Co Down, Northern Ireland, boasts zinc roofs on white rendered concrete walls.
Described as “a dream home” by judges for the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) House of the Year awards, it cost £1,425 per square metre.
The modest budget used to achieve such spacious quarters was, judges said, “a remarkable achievement for a newly built home of this scale”.
Sylvia and Michael, the owners of the property, said they stuck with one bathroom because there would be less cleaning, despite some people saying they should have more. The couple said: “It is a joy to live in – from seeing the soaring bedroom ceiling on wakening, being surrounded by the gentle landscape in the kitchen during the day, to enjoying the sunset in the top room.” Alan Jones, president of RIBA, said: “House Lessans demonstrates that life-enhancing architecture does not have to cost the earth.
“Even with the tightest of budgets, House Lessans shows that a dream home, designed by a talented architect, can be a reality.”
Architect Kieran Mcgrath, of the firm Mcgonigle Mcgrath, said the house “we hope, extends our understanding of how to make buildings in our countryside”.
House Lessans was revealed as the winner in the final episode of a special Channel 4 series, Grand Designs: House of the Year.
Other homes vying for the RIBA prize this year included a “treehouse” created entirely from wood, in Devon, as well as a subterranean townhouse tucked away between rows of traditional terraces in Notting Hill, west London.
Last year, an innovative off-grid Scottish hideaway won top spot. Lochside House in the West Highlands, designed by Haysom Ward Millar Architects, won praise for the way it melded into the landscape.