Grand Designs: House of the Year 2019 winner revealed
This year's winner of RIBA's House of the Year has been announced
The final of Grand Designs: House of the Year 2019 has now aired on Channel 4 – read on to find out which house was crowned as RIBA’s winner.
A modest, low-budget rural home in County Down, Northern Ireland, has been named House of the Year 2019 by the Royal Institute of British Architects, beating out a stellar shortlist of creative builds as featured on Grand Designs House of the Year.
Photo: RIBA/Aidan McGrath
The single-storey house, known as House Lessans, cost just £1,425 per square meter to build, a total of £335,000. To do this architect Kieran McGonigle of McGonigle McGrath used rough, low-cost materials such as concrete bricks, finished to a domestic standard. He also kept the floor plan simple while maximising the sense of space and light with high ceilings and huge fixed windows, a cheaper alternative to bifold doors.
Photo: RIBA/Aidan McGrath
Exterior layout
House Lessans consists of two perpendicular blocks overlooking a sheltered courtyard. Built on the site of a former farmstead, it takes its cues from a neighbouring shed, using white rendered concrete walls and zinc pitched roofs.
Photo: RIBA/Aidan McGrath
Open-plan design
Inside there’s an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, as well as three bedrooms and one bathroom. A mezzanine study has been fitted in above a pantry. Pared back interiors follow a soft grey colour scheme. Grey walls follow a consistent height throughout the house, tying everything together, with roof spaces painted a reflective white.
Photo: RIBA/Aidan McGrath
Country views
Sylvia and Michael, owners of House Lessans, said: ‘We feel that the house respects and indeed enhances the landscape. It is a joy to live in – from seeing the soaring bedroom ceiling on wakening, being surrounded by the gentle landscape in the kitchen during the day, to enjoying the sunset in the top room.’
Photo: RIBA/Aidan McGrath
Affordable design
Chair of the 2019 RIBA House of the Year jury, architect John Pardey, said: ‘House Lessans … represents a paradigm in creating relevant contemporary architecture that truly reflects its local context, vernacular and culture. It has an elegant simplicity achieved within a remarkably low budget without excesses, creating delight in the subtly changing volumes as well as its relationship between the inside and outside.’
