In the final episode of Grand Designs: House of the Year on Wednesday, House on the Hill was named as the winning property.
The Gloucestershire farmhouse extension was shortlisted for the award last month.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) presents the annual award to the UK’s best new architect-designed house.
Tonight we tour five stunning homes that all reinvent familiar types of building.
— granddesigns (@granddesigns) December 8, 2021
Which will join the final shortlist for @RIBA's #HouseOfTheYear - and who will be crowned the overall winner? Tune in at 9pm to find out! 📺 #GrandDesigns pic.twitter.com/2qZoDx6Pk3
The restoration of the property took 10 years to complete in a “labour of love” and it overlooks the Wye Valley.
The stone farmhouse has three storeys and was converted to give owners David and Jenny a gallery space for their art collection. It’s new two-storey wing is partly fixed into the hillside.
Riba president Simon Allford said: “This geometric design skilfully fuses together the old with the new – connecting two architectures separated by over 300 years.
“Intriguing and distinguished, House on the Hill is the impressive result of a 10-year collaboration between the homeowners and their architect. This is an extraordinary labour of love in architectural form.
“Every detail has been meticulously considered and exquisitely finished, resulting in a truly remarkable home that enhances its unique setting.”
The owners of House on the Hill said: “Ours was a very protracted project, so the client and architect relationship had to be one of mutual confidence.
“The interplay of the house and its gardens with the wider surrounds provides an ever-changing source of pleasure.
“The house is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the house and the landscape complement each other. To return to the house after a spell away is to renew our admiration of the scheme.”
In 2018, the winner of the award was HaysomWardMiller for Lochside House and in 2019, it was McGonigle McGrath for House Lessans.
Architect Amin Tahahair, of the Riba House of the Year 2021 jury, said: “Some decades in the making … The jury felt Alison Brooks Architects had applied their long-researched process of subtly breaking down the rigid and spatially predictable grid with gentle inflection.”
Architect Brooks said: “It’s a real honour to win Riba House of the Year amongst an accomplished shortlist of beautiful projects.
“I see private house commissions as a rare opportunity to test new ideas in a concentrated form – they are the built equivalent of writing an essay.
“So, this accolade is a testament to my client’s belief in the value of architecture and their willingness to embrace the new.”
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