AYA 2024 shortlists: Individual House Architect of the Year

Earlier this year BD announced all the architects who made it on to the shortlists for our prestigious annual Architect of the Year Awards.

Now we are shining the spotlight on each category in turn and publishing a selection of the images that impressed the judges.

This year’s judges include: Yẹmí Aládérun, head of development, Meridian Water, Enfield Council; Alexandra Andone, associate director, PRP; Amr Assaad, board director, Buckley Gray Yeoman; Lee Bennett, partner, design chair and school lead, Sheppard Robson; Sarah Cary, chief development officer Imperial College, White City Campus; Irene Craik, director, Levitt Bernstein; Alex Ely, founding director, Mae; Martyn Evans, creative director, LandsecU+I; Gavin Hale-Brown, director, Henley Halebrown; Tanvir Hasan, director emeritus, Donald Insall Associates; Lee Higson, board director, Eric Parry Architects; Nigel Hugill, chief executive, Urban & Civic; Kirsten Lees, managing partner, Grimshaw; Oliver Lowrie, director and founder, Ackroyd Lowrie; Anna Mansfield, director, Publica; Michelle McDowell, non-executive director, Civic; Ian McKnight, founding partner, Hall McKnight; John McRae, director and trustee, Orms; David Partridge, chairman, Related Argent; Sarah Robinson, asociate director, The King’s Foundation; Philippa Simpson, director for buildings and renewal, Barbican Centre; Kevin Singh, head, Manchester School of Architecture; Karl Singporewala, founder, Karl Singporewala Design Bureau; Jonathan Smales, founder and CEO, Human Nature; Elizabeth Smith, chairman and regional director, Purcell; Alan Stanton, principal director, Stanton Williams; Amin Taha, chairperson, Groupwork; Magali Thomson, project lead for placemaking, Great Ormond Street Hospital; Tatiana von Preussen, co-founder and director, vPPR; Jo Wright, director, Perkins&Will.

Today’s shortlist is for Individual House Architect of the Year.

Coffey Architects

The practice’s commitment to integrating light, landscape, and circadian rhythms into its architectural designs is demonstrated in the two submitted projects. Meadow Grove is a new build house in Barnes, south west London, featuring immersive dynamic spaces with an interplay of light and texture. Garden Lodge in Harpenden is a light-filled contemporary extension of an Edwardian home that enhances connections to the garden.

Gbolade Design Studio

Entitled The Director’s Cut, Gbolade Design Studio’s reconfiguration of a historic vicarage in Saffron Walden cuts through the floor plan to create a triple-height atrium that enhances both horizontal and vertical connectivity. The project achieved LETI retrofit best practice targets by insulating the existing fabric, reusing materials, and integrating renewable energy systems. The Timber House is a deep retrofit and black timber-clad rear extension of a 1960s detached home in Chislehurst.

Gianni Botsford Architects

Reciprocal House revisits a Hampstead coach house extended in 1968 by Foster Associates. The project retains and restores the extension and replaces the original house in a respectful dialogue with the Foster intervention. In a sharply contrasting context, The Old Byre near Cowes on the Isle of Wight converts two farm buildings into a home around a central courtyard, including residency and working spaces for visiting artists.

Matthew Giles Architects

The practice specialises in private residential work and has submitted four recently completed London projects. The most extensive is Kings Road House, a whole house retrofit in Wimbledon that includes rear and side extensions and a new front porch, adding two extra bedrooms and greatly improving thermal efficiency. In Thames Ditton, the Ashley Road project extends an Arts & Crafts style house and creates a new garden building.

McLean Quinlan

The practice says it blends modern design with traditional craftsmanship, with each design responding to its context through thoughtful material choices and form. Downland Barns, a new house overlooking the North Downs, combines an offsite manufactured structure with materials inspired by the local vernacular. Other featured projects include a low-energy Passivhaus home in London and a hillside house in north Devon.

Orme Architecture

Based in Somerset, the practice prides itself on delivering bespoke and innovative designs that exceed client expectations. Its four submitted projects include Felthams Farm, a timber-framed family home which features a zip wire from the master bedroom to a natural pool. Also in rural Somerset, Rakes Hill has a semi-circular plan that maximises extensive countryside views. New houses in Dorset and Nottingham complete the entry.

Sandy Rendel Architects

Set within the South Downs National Park, Bury Gate Farm is conceived as a modern interpretation of a villa within a parkland setting. Onsite renewables enable the EPC A-rated house to generate a surplus of electricity. Also in West Sussex, Morlands Farm Dutch Barn and Tower converts a historic barn and adds a cylindrical viewing platform. The entry also includes Stonery Farm, an ongoing farm building redevelopment incorporating flintwork walling.

Ström Architects

Meadow House, a large family home in the Essex Green Belt, responds to the clients’ interest in modernist pavilion-style architecture. The house features a swimming pool with a lifting floor that can extend the surrounding terrace. Three projects in coastal locations are also submitted – a slate and Corten-clad home in Porthmadog, a modest bungalow redevelopment in North Devon and a proposed 3-pointed star shaped house in California.

>> Also read: AYA 2024 shortlists: Creative Conservation Architect of the Year