Inside the houses toured on Grand Designs: House of the Year 2018
Inside the houses toured on Grand Designs: House of the Year 2018
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1/55 Gin Distillery by Open Practice Architecture
This converted Victorian gin distillery in Whitechapel, east London, oozes history and character (though sadly not gin).
Rupert Scott, founder and director of Hackney-based Open Practice Architecture, and his wife Leo Wood, an interior designer, bought the original brick building in 2014.
Hidden away in a corner of a non-descript carpark surrounded by industrial buildings, it was mangy and rat-infested, with a corrugated roof, a concrete floor and "a side alley full of fridges”. Only the brick walls and concrete floor would stay.Riba
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2/55 Fresh lease of life
Four years on, it is enjoying a fresh lease of life as a sunny and stylish two-storey home fit for bringing up their two young daughters Evie, five, and Frankie, two. It is a mother’s ruin no more.
Riba
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3/55 Clever use of glazing
This inspiring couple flooded the place with light by reinstating its elegant lost Crittall windows and carving a terrace with a structural glass floor into the darkest rear corner.
Riba
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4/55 Simplistically stylish
Inside, it is both dramatic and cosy. The interiors are finished to perfection, without being fussy or flashy. The huge kitchen-living room is spanned by a 25ft steel beam...
Riba
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5/55 Letting light through
...and privacy restrictions due to overlooking are conquered with cut-out openings that draw in light from elsewhere in the building...
Riba
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6/55 Setting an example
It is little wonder the Riba judges praised it as being "a wonderful example of exemplary contemporary architecture patched together with considered heritage reclamation and restoration”.
Riba
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7/55 Old Shed New House by Tonkin Liu, North Yorkshire
The owners of this charmingly unique North Yorkshire dwelling had been looking for a peaceful site on which to build their retirement home for several years before stumbling upon a farm shed in a wild garden at the edge of a small village.
Riba
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8/55 Keeping it in the family
They hired their architect son Greg (handy!) and asked him to pull the landscape into the building’s form, blurring the lines between outside and in.
Riba
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9/55 Book lover's heaven
Knowing his parents’ love of books, Greg built this house around a tall, mirrored library that showcases their lifetime’s collection of tomes and reflects the greenery of the garden. Slatted windows allow sunlight to dapple the space. It is so lovely the judges gasped when they saw it.
Riba
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10/55 Echoing nature
The facade also speaks to nature, the combination of larch cladding and galvanised steel creating a rhythmic effect that echoes the bark of the surrounding silver birch trees.
Riba
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11/55 Balancing the grand and the intimate
Described by the architects as "a journey of interconnected spaces that alternate between the grand and the intimate…part country cottage, part classical villa” it is also a strong contender for Riba’s prestigious shortlist.
Riba
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12/55 The Old Court House by Harrison Brookes Architects, West Midlands
This crumbling 400-year-old house was brought back from the verge of collapse by an authentic restoration that took five years to complete.
Riba
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13/55 Overrun with wildlife
In the words of the architect the Grade II-listed house was "more ecosystem than building” when they took it on.
Riba
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14/55 Reduced to its bare bones
Dating from about 1510, the house had been reduced to its central brick chimney stack, a stone base and badly deteriorated oak frame, which was teetering on one side of the house and entirely gone on the other.
Riba
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15/55 Safety challenges
A painstaking archaeological process was undertaken to piece together evidence and salvage everything that could be reassembled safely. This had to be meticulously structured by the architect to ensure that reconstruction techniques were authentic and safe.
Riba
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16/55 'Full of character'
"The architect, builder and client have clearly worked with exemplary dedication and professionalism to bring a long-neglected house and piece of local history back to life and create a home of distinctive character," said Riba.
Riba
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17/55 Duncan Cottage by James Grayley Architects, Bath
This beautiful Grade II-listed home in Bath, built in 1790 has been given a striking 21st-century extension.
Riba
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18/55 Making use of Bath stone
The architect worked closely with local suppliers and contractors to deliver a beautifully-crafted addition which uses tightly jointed Bath stone ashlar for walls and floors.
Riba
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19/55 Not so 18th-century
This has created a timeless and innovative garden room which appears to be carved from a single block.
Riba
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20/55 Clever architectural illusions
The internal half flight of stone steps within the loggia amplifies this illusion, creating a space where wall meets floor and seamlessly folds into stair.
Riba
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21/55 Bringing an old building up to date
"Duncan Cottage demonstrates the value that architecture adds to even the most modest development, updating and transforming an 18th-century listed home to meet 21st-century requirements," said Riba.
Riba
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22/55 Coastal House by 6a Architects, South Devon
This early 20th-century house close to the South Devon coastal path has been transformed with elegant restraint.
Riba
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23/55 Stairway to heaven
Inside, a winding timber stair rises through the central three storey, top lit atrium creating a series of balconies and terraces.
Riba
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24/55 Opening up the space
The floor level has been dropped to connect inside and out, elongating existing windows and creating a grand scale for the more public rooms.
Riba
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25/55 'Rooted in place, rich in history'
"The retention of much of the original structure, wrapped in an external insulating ‘duvet’ and faced in reclaimed slate, has resulted in a house which feels rooted in place, rich in history, but also in contemporary detail and delight," said Riba.
Riba
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26/55 Red House by 31/44 Architects, East Dulwich
Red House in East Dulwich is one of 20 contemporary, cutting-edge properties longlisted by the Royal Institute of British Architects for House of the Year 2018. Grand Designs will be touring them all every Wednesday night at 9pm on Channel 4...
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27/55 Confident but considerate
This former garage turned 'sunburnt house' stands out for its success in playfully asserting itself as a modern building in a row of period conversions.
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28/55 Nodding to the neighbours
It shows respect to its Victorian neighbours by authentically nodding to their design in its decorative detailing.
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29/55 'Cheeky rebel'
Described by presenter Kevin McCloud as a 'cheeky rebel', it was built from the same red bricks used as accent bricks in the existing terrace, suggesting it belongs on the street despite its high-impact colour.
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30/55 Mirroring Victorian touches
The patterned tiled thresholds of the surrounding homes are echoed in the stunning, intricately-patterned section of facade that sits above an arched window to the side of the understated black entranceway.
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31/55 Surprisingly big inside
Inside, a double-height hallway leads into a split-level, three-storey home offering nearly 1,500 sq ft of living space.
Riba
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32/55 Overcoming obstacles
The architects from 31/44 Architects were faced with complex geometry due to a kink in the road and the angled side of the nextdoor house.
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33/55 Courtyards prove the key
They conquered this obstacle by designing an unconventional, sunken ground floor cleverly arranged around courtyards that introduce plenty of light and greenery into the open-plan layout.
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34/55 Not just an architectural showcase
Red House has a homely feel to it; it is architecturally impressive but also easy to imagine yourself living there.
Channel 4
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35/55 Bright and cheery
The glazing provides cheery glimpses of the red brick exterior, adding flashes of colour.
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36/55 Blank canvas
The decoration has been kept simple throughout to give the new owners a blank canvas to stamp their own mark onto.
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37/55 Guess the price?
Red House cost less than half a million pounds to build; "a steal considering the spatial configuration," notes presenter, architect Damion Burrows.
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38/55 Black Stone House by 6a Architects, Hackney
You get to snoop around two other striking London designs in the first episode of Grand Designs: House of the Year, including Black Stone House in Hackney.
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39/55 Clever concrete
Commissioned by a local café owner, this magnificent, monolithic concrete block has been built on an irregular corner plot at the end of a polite row of townhouses.
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40/55 Three flats nestled inside
Inside are three apartments, all of which have been designed to 'artfully manage privacy'.
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41/55 Making the most of outdoor space
Terraces and loggias form outside rooms and huge sliding windows draw in daylight and offer views of sky, garden and the street.
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42/55 Not so cold anymore
The concrete is warmed up by lime-slurried walls, plywood and ceramics.
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43/55 Dartmouth Park House by AY Architects, Dartmouth Park
Dartmouth Park House a glorious townhouse filled with Nicaraguan mahogany, complete with DJ room, glass-roofed bathroom and a palm tree in the centre.
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44/55 Starting over
It involved the redevelopment of an entire Victorian building in north London.
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45/55 Reconfigured spaces
Now, a series of bright spaces are linked by a courtyard, terrace...
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46/55 The house's crowning glory
...and a statement staircase climbing three-floors through a spectacular, nine-metre high void.
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47/55 Brimming with personality
The beautiful, exotic interiors reflect the owners' personal travels and interests. But you'd never know, because outside, the former shop front is discreetly painted grey with smoked glass hiding its theatrical contents.
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48/55 Pheasants by Sarah Griffiths + Amin Taha, Henley
Elsewhere, we're taken to see Pheasants, a glass and Corten steel, modernist riverside home in Henley.
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49/55 Controversial - and then some
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this avant garde home caused uproar among traditional local residents.
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50/55 Uphill struggle
The owners were eventually granted planning permission, but it's taken more than a decade from inception to completion.
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51/55 Home sweet home
Inside is unexpectedly comfortable, full of finely-crafted features, light, and panoramic views.
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52/55 Ouseburn Road by Miller Partnership Architects, Newcastle
Ouseburn Road is two smart semi-detached houses in Newcastle built by neighbours working harmoniously together.
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53/55 Truly collaborative
Both houses were designed by the same team and built through a shared building contract to save money for the owners.
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54/55 Sharing is caring
They share lightwells. external spaces and back gardens. One of the owners is a furniture maker and designed and made the kitchens for both houses.
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55/55 Reflecting Newcastle's heritage
Steel, local bricks and polished concrete floors reflect the industrial heritage of the area.
From a formerly derelict east London gin distillery to a farming shed transformed into a bibliophile’s paradise, challenging conversions are the focus of tonight’s snoop around the Riba House of the Year longlist.
Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, architect Damion Burrows and design expert Michelle Ogundehin are touring the 20 houses in the running to be named the UK’s best new architect-designed home.
Each episode, he’ll be revealing which two of the five featured builds has been shortlisted, before announcing the winner at the end of the four-part series on Wednesday 28 November.
Nobody, us included, has been told the results in advance, so you'll have to tune into Channel 4 at 9pm to find out.
The “rebellious” Red House in East Dulwich and the controversial glass and steel Pheasants in Henley have already made the shortlist, but which of the following ambitious restorations will be joining them?
JUST THE TONIC
Our top bet is on a converted Victorian gin distillery that oozes history and character (though sadly not gin).
Rupert Scott, founder and director of Hackney-based Open Practice Architecture, and his wife Leo Wood, an interior designer, bought the original brick building in 2014.
Hidden away in a corner of a non-descript carpark surrounded by industrial buildings, it was mangy and rat-infested, with a corrugated roof, a concrete floor and “a side alley full of fridges”.
Only the brick walls and concrete floor would stay.
Four years on, it is enjoying a fresh lease of life as a sunny and stylish two-storey home fit for bringing up their young daughters Evie, five, and Frankie, two. Mother’s ruin no more.
This inspiring couple invited Homes & Property into their home earlier this year.
They described their mission to flood the building with light by reinstating its elegant lost Crittall windows and carving a terrace with a structural glass floor into the darkest rear corner.
Inside, it is both dramatic and cosy. The huge kitchen-living room is spanned by a 25ft steel beam; privacy restrictions due to overlooking are conquered with cut-out openings that draw in light from elsewhere in the building; and the interiors are finished to perfection, without being fussy or flash.
It is little wonder the Riba judges praised it as being “a wonderful example of exemplary contemporary architecture patched together with considered heritage reclamation and restoration”.
OLD SHED, NEW HOUSE
The owners of this charmingly unique North Yorkshire dwelling, also in the running for House of the Year, had been looking for a peaceful site on which to build their retirement home for several years before stumbling upon a farm shed in a wild garden at the edge of a small village.
They hired their architect son Greg and asked him to pull the landscape into the building’s form, blurring the lines between outside and in.
Knowing his parents’ love of books, Greg built this house around a tall, mirrored library that showcases their lifetime’s collection of tomes and reflects the greenery of the garden.
Slatted windows allow sunlight to dapple the space. It is so lovely the judges gasped when they saw it.
The facade also reflects the surrounding nature.
A combination of larch cladding and galvanised steel create a rhythmic effect that echoes the bark of the local silver birch trees.
It is described by the architects as “a journey of interconnected spaces that alternate between the grand and the intimate…part country cottage, part classical villa.”
STILL TO COME
This episode also explores a Grade II-listed home in Bath, built in 1790 and given a striking 21st-century extension; and a crumbling 400-year-old house brought back from the verge of collapse by an authentic restoration that took five years to complete.
Still to come in the series are five 'extreme' homes, including an awe-inspiring set of cantilevered black boxes that push the limits of engineering; and five homes that use materials in interesting ways, such as an experimental London home with exposed joints and steel.
“It's very exciting to be back for a fourth season of Grand Designs: House of the Year with more architectural rich pickings from the very best new homes in the country,” said Kevin.
“Each year, we plot how these exemplars are shaping the architectural landscape of the country and our time as we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st century.
“I say this because although these homes are sometimes expensive and ambitious, they contain ideas and innovation that will help shape the volume housing of the next 20 years — an important reason to watch the series.”
Grand Designs: House of the Year airs at 9pm tonight on Channel 4
