New homes
RIBA Manser Medal for the New Home of the Year
The RIBA Manser Medal is awarded for the best one-off house designed by an architect in the UK. The award is judged by a panel which include: Michael Manser CBE, former President of RIBA; Jamie Fobert, architect and winner of the 2003 Manser Medal; Michael Hanson of co-sponsors The Best of British Homes; David Birkbeck of Design for Homes; and Tony Chapman, RIBA Head of Awards
The winner will receive a medal and £5,000.
The New Home of the Year shortlist contains four fascinating and innovative houses.
The Black House, Cambridgeshire
Mole Architects
(The RIBA Manser Medal Winner)
This 'overgrown shed' in the Cambridge fens is a tribute by architect and owner Meredith Bowles to the agricultural buildings of the area. Meredith says this is a home 'in the local vernacular'. His neighbours beg to differ, but he insists that his property is more in keeping with the traditional architecture of the area than theirs.
The Black House is simply and practically decorated – Meredith does not see interior design as a 'serious pursuit' – and it is flooded with light. Large windows create the impression that you really are in the heart of the Fens rather than on the edge of them.
Perhaps this home's strongest claim to the Manser Medal is that it is a green as well as a Black house. Its eco-friendly design and relatively low building cost of £170,000 make it a model of low-cost housing for the future.
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The Butterfly House, Surrey
Chetwood Associates
Laurie and Roz Chetwood, architects and owners of The Butterfly House in Surrey, have created a family home with wings, perched on a lawn. Whimsical and experimental, it could not be more different from the austere and practical Black House.
The home's design follows the life cycle of a butterfly. At the egg-laying stage, larval shapes lead you into the house, through a light-filled space dominated by sculpture (the 'energy-giving' chrysalis), and finally out to the terrace and conservatory, shaded by two brightly coloured wings. This is architecture for fun; property design at its most flamboyant and dramatic.
It does not work perfectly, however. Some features, like Laurie's cocoon-style beds, never made the journey from drawing board to real life. But this is a labour of love, created by its owners, so small flaws can be tolerated.
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Wakelins, near Newmarket, Suffolk
James Gorst Architects
It might seem a little odd that a grade II listed Tudor building should be on the shortlist for a new home of the year competition, but Wakelins is essentially a new home built around a very old skeleton.
Wakelins' Tudor character had been completely smothered by successive unsympathetic alterations, leaving it looking decidedly ordinary. Architect James Gorst, working for a publicity-shy American banker, had to strip the building back to its bare bones before completely rebuilding the Tudor section of the house, and adding on an altogether 21st-century extension. There is nothing mock Tudor about this £2.5 million renovation: the architect was determined that the new sections of the building would express confidence in modern design.
Not everyone is keen on the marriage of the two. Neighbours say the building has 'raised a lot of eyebrows', but Gorst points out that what links the two buildings is the use of oak. He says that together they represent '400 years of the development of timber frame technology'.
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Vista, Dungeness, Kent
Simon Conder Associates
This is the only home on the Manser Medal shortlist to receive its own fan mail. So admired is this high-concept beach hut on the shingle of Dungeness, that passing visitors have written to its owner, pleading with them to sell it to them.
Also known as the Rubber House, Vista is waterproofed in black rubber. Although this sounds outlandish, it fits perfectly with the Dungeness scenery. As architect Simon Conder points out, Dungeness is a very un-English sort of place, a bit like the Wild West. It has the feel of a squatter camp about it, 'all bodge and improvisation'.
Vista itself was a work of improv. Conder was originally engaged simply to install larger windows so the owner could admire the sea views but when he removed the cladding from the original building he found that there was simply no structure beneath. The house had to be rebuilt.
An old, free-standing shed, which had been used to store fishing tackle, described by Conder as 'the most authentic part of the property', was incorporated into the building as an entry way. From the hall you can see through the house to the huge folding window at the front of the property which draws back completely so you can be both inside and outside at once.
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