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House of the Year 2021: the five homes in the running for top RIBA prize on Grand Designs tonight

The Modern Oast  (RIBA/Jim Stephenson)
The Modern Oast (RIBA/Jim Stephenson)

A five-conical oast house in Kent, an black box eco home on a Devon country estate and a Victorian village school are among the properties that will compete tonight to be shortlisted to win the 2021 RIBA House of the Year award.

The fourth and final episode of this sixth series will be aired tonight on Channel 4, as Grand DesignsKevin McCloud, assisted by writer Michelle Ogundehin and architect Damion Burrows, visit five more cutting-edge residential projects.

They will whittle them down to one more finalist of seven, before revealing the overall winner.

The RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) competition and TV show has been running since 2013 with the long list entrants sorted into loose categories. This week was houses that reinvent.

Tonight’s finalist will join six others from the categories: homes that surprise, materials used in a new and beautiful way and homes that solve problems.

One of seven head-turning homes shortlisted from these episodes will go on to be crowned the best home in Britain tonight.

Here is a round-up of this week’s projects vying to be considered for the overall prize.

The Kentish house of cones

Architect: Acme

The first entrant on the show tonight is a Kent classic: a converted oast house once used for drying hops to brew beer.

The five red brick roundalls push circular living to the limit, says McCloud.

Even the mirrors, sinks and lights are spherical in this converted oast house in Kent (RIBA)
Even the mirrors, sinks and lights are spherical in this converted oast house in Kent (RIBA)

Clad in 41,000 hand-trimmed tiles, the walls are curved, there are circular stairs, even the mirrors, sinks and lights are spherical. Wooden tiles clad the internal walls all the way up to the point of the cone.

Downstairs a kitchen, sitting room, guest bedroom and study all open off a singular round hallway. McCloud describes it as “magical and primal” with the charm of an “igloo or yurt.”

An eco home on a country estate

Architect: McLean Quinlan

Two retired software engineers Nigel and Eileen have built a Passivhaus behind an old walled garden which was once part of a country estate in Devon. It’s deceptively large with a secret basement for a media room and a huge central atrium.

An open plan living and dining room, library and four bedrooms run off the hall. Burrows says its modest and understated with a strong connection to nature through the glazed internal courtyards and their new kitchen garden on the site of the old one.

The deceptively large Passivhaus in Devon (RIBA/Jim Stephenson)
The deceptively large Passivhaus in Devon (RIBA/Jim Stephenson)

It’s earthy with clay-rendered walls and reclaimed tiles under foot. Looking up there’s a 20m triple glazed skylight to ensure it meets Passivhaus energy efficiency standards. “It’s a 21st century blueprint of a country house, quietly luxurious, super energy efficient and in harmony with its setting,” he says.

Suburbia but not as we know it!

Architect: Wilkinson King Architects

As McCloud arrives at the property, down a leafy spur urban street in Surrey’s Weybridge, he calls it “a fresh, delightful slice of something cool and elegant.”

The modern family home, built by photographer Sarah, to live in with her husband and three children, is a dappled grey brick box.

There are no obvious stud walls inside but a huge light-filled open plan space of glass, engineers timber and plywood. “We didn’t want a white box,” Sarah explains. The Lemonade Veneer Lumber which makes up the exposed beams and structure gives off a warm pink hue and glass walls between areas allow light to bounce all the way through the house.

The ‘dappled grey brick box’ in Weybridge (RIBA)
The ‘dappled grey brick box’ in Weybridge (RIBA)

“There are crystal clear views through the building all way front of the house that faces the street,” says McCloud.

Much-loved former village school

Architect: ArkleBoyce

Certain buildings make a village, such as the pub or post office, or primary school. This Grade II listed Victorian village school has been reimagined at the back, behind the restored and retained facade.

The former educational institution contains a double height living room and mezzanine bedroom, behind it is a playroom and open plan kitchen diner, with a bathroom and two further bedrooms above.

The back of this 170 year-old school has been transformed (RIBA/Nicholas Worley)
The back of this 170 year-old school has been transformed (RIBA/Nicholas Worley)

Behind is a low slung extension clad in dry stone walling with a master bedroom pod on top. It’s the home of James and architect Gail and their two boys. The RIBA judges praised the wrap-around glazing and clever use of steel.

“It deliberately stands apart allowing the building to shine in its 170-year-old glory but with a new exciting chapter to the old school’s story,” says Burrows.

The house on the corner

Architect: 31/44

At the end of a seemingly ordinary Victorian terrace in London is a striking new corner house that compliments the existing architecture, while setting a new standard. Covered in rugged brick with a sleek raised and glazed extension, this home nods to the rest of the street.

It has a curved corner walls to mimic the pub over the road and an arched doorway. Developer Sarah has taken traditional ideas and played with them such as a the canopy which looks like the entrance next door.

A striking new corner house, with light flowing through the downstairs living spaces via glazing and courtyards (RIBA/Rory Gardiner)
A striking new corner house, with light flowing through the downstairs living spaces via glazing and courtyards (RIBA/Rory Gardiner)

The triple aspect site allows glazing on both sides leading into courtyards so light flows through the downstairs, which can be dark and narrow in Victorian terraced homes. Plywood storage cleverly hides the downstairs toilet and the micro thin cement floor maximises the ceiling heights.

“It showcases the elegance of the past in a very contemporary way,” says Ogundehin.

To find out which of these houses wins the final category, and to find out which of the seven finalists chosen over the last four weeks is crowned overall winner of House of the Year 2021, tune into Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.

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