House

摘要

There was a surprising shortage of excellentnew-builds in this year's RIBA RegionalAwards - 31/44 Architects' Red House beingone that it is surprising not to seeon the National Awards roster.Two of the four national housewinners would perhapsbetter be described asinterior reworkings orretrofits. 6a's CoastalHouse and Amin Taha'sCaroline Place bothgrapple with the existingto offer richly materialand often subtlereinventions, with thelatter injecting somefun into proceedingswith its movingcabinets.Similarly, the two new-builds here are about minimal impact: HaysomWardMiller's Lochside House inserts three quiet, pitched volumes into a natural fold in the land, and the standout winner in this category, Tonkin Liu's Old Shed New House, takes its cues from agricultural buildings. This simple cube-like structure is a packed jewel box of spatial ideas, and distills many of the overriding concerns for this year's winners: rich materials, a light touch that defers to existing landscape or structure and the occasional sense of high drama. JA