The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has released its shortlist of six contenders for the 2023 RIBA House of the Year, and Green House is the only London home on the list.
Spitalfields-based architecture studio Hayhurst & Co impressed the jury with their ability to use a tight budget to create a family home full of light and greenery.
Hidden away down a back-land alley in Tottenham, Green House is an oasis of plants and natural light.
Translucent polycarbonate walls reminiscent of a greenhouse cover its cross-laminated timber frame, sliding back to reveal waving fronds of bamboo.
When its current owners purchased the site, it was occupied by a run-down house of mixed occupancy (HMO).
Today, it’s a contemporary five-bedroom home in the running to be House of the Year.
“The project demonstrates how new-build housing can embrace mass timber, natural daylighting, passive ventilation strategies, and renewable technologies under one roof,” said the RIBA jury.
A “riad-style” central courtyard allows daylight in from a glass roof, while allowing air to circulate indoors.
The timber structure has been left exposed, accented by an all-green staircase that leads up to a first-floor balcony that overlooks the atrium.
Curtains instead of doors in the open plan ground floor can be drawn to partition off create cosy spaces, or flung open to allow for views of the garden.
Hayhurst & Co used sheets of polycarbonate roofing for the exterior, creating the illusion the home is a giant plant-filled greenhouse without breaking the budget.
The bamboo and other planting provide the occupants with privacy year-round, and shade on London’s increasingly hot summer days.
A roof terrace filled with more plants offers views of the rewilded woodlands of the Clyde Circus Conservation Area.
There are five other homes on the RIBA House of the Year shortlist, each with interesting architectural details.
Denzien Works covered the façade of Hundred Acre Wood on the banks of Loch Awe in crushed TV screens, in homage to the client’s hatred of television.
A pyramidal copper roof tops Saltmarsh House on the Isle of Whight, designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects.
Cowshed by David Kohn Architects is an artist’s studio occupying a former agricultural in South Devon.
Also in Devon is Made of Sand by Studio Weave, an extension to a stone cottage clad in Western Red Cedar with a floor of handmade terracotta tiles.
Rural Office designed an inhabited roof for Middle Avenue in Surrey, with a triple-height hall extending up inside the home.
The winner of the RIBA House of the Year 2023 will be announced on November 30 2023.
