Mountain View in Sydenham by CAN
(Picture: Jim Stephenson)Slimfit homes slotted into tiny urban spaces dominate the list of winners of the highly anticipated RIBA London Awards 2022, including a two-bedroom house built on a dumping ground in West Ealing and a black timber box on stilts erected on a Brockley builder’s yard.
126 entries into the coveted architectural programme were shortlisted to 68 with 42 winners announced today.
A south-east London home inspired by the Disneyland Matterhorn ride stood out, as did the rescue and transformation of the old Bow Street Magistrate’s Court and police station into one of the world’s most fashionable hotels, the NoMad London.
The regional awards scheme for London considered residential, commercial, hospitality and community projects which ranged from contemporary add-ons to sympathetic extensions.
Winners of all of the different regional rounds will be put forward for the RIBA Stirling Prize – British architecture’s top accolade – which is due to be announced in October.
Ten of the striking, RIBA London Award-winning projects announced today:
The Library House in Clapton, MacDonald Wright Architects
This narrow infill property sits between the Grade II-listed Edwin Cooper Library in Clapton, Hackney, and a row of terraced cottages.
Designed by the owner and architect James MacDonald, the judges described the two-bedroom home as "small but perfectly formed." Taking inspiration from the library, a Douglas Fir bookshelf supports the staircase of the same material with exposed timber beams overhead.
Inside is a Corten steel envelope meaning it is highly insulated with a front door and letter box to Passivhaus standards. It has solar panels on the roof. "We calculated the space heating to be a tenth of the requirements of a new build house under current Building Regs – and it has performed even better," says MacDonald Wright. He used local materials such as bathroom taps from Barber Wilson in Tottenham and blue lias stone flooring from Somerset.
Mountain View in Sydenham, CAN
An Edwardian semi was given a new lease of life by architects CAN who transformed its living space into a colourful, pop culture-inspired home.
A new extension towards the rear of the house takes inspiration from the mountains, with a laser cut design on the outside that compliments the home’s exterior and a partially ruined brick wall inside. A new skylight has been added to the upstairs hallway to join the old and new house together.
Architect Mat Barnes became fascinated by photos taken during the construction of Disneyland’s Matterhorn ride and of fake mountain scenery during the extension of the Edwardian house in Sydenham. Kitchen units have been made from recycled chopping boards and milk bottle tops.
NoMad Hotel in Covent Garden, EPR Architects
Once Bow Street Magistrate’s Court and police station in Covent Garden, this Grade II listed collection of Victorian buildings fell into disrepair and was put on the English Heritage Register of Buildings at Risk.
There have been many failed redevelopment attempts since it closed as a court in 2006.
This time the New York based hospitality company Sydell Gardens has successfully had it transformed and opened as one single hotel – the NoMad London.
The new glazed roof has turned the derelict courtyard into a restaurant with a triple height atrium, increasing the viability of the hotel. There are 91 rooms in the basement and a guest-only library.
Pitched Black in Brockley, Gruff Architects
This slanted black timber box, lifted at one end by crossing electric blue legs, is the home of architect Rhys Cannon, his partner Joanna Brindle and their three children. The secluded plot in Brockley conservation area was an old builders’ yard that the couple came across over a decade ago and eventually built on.
The upper storey of the house spans the full width of the site and is supported at one end by a network of stilts, where the ground floor space has been eaten into to leave space for a parking spot.
The blackened wooden cladding of the overhanging box completely blinkers the front of the house where it faces existing homes but opens to the rear where it favours views towards the mature trees.
House in Primrose Hill, Jamie Fobert
From the street this grand Victorian house appears traditional. On the inside, it is contemporary and stylish yet respectful of its era.
The architects and engineers suspended the two floors and slotted in two lower floors beneath it, using water struck and coal-fired bricks from Denmark on the new facade.
Deep light shafts that run the height of the building pour light into the new inner sanctum of the house. A new, white concrete cast staircase winds down to the new storeys which house an office, a playroom and a light-dappled swimming pool.
Kiln Place in Camden, Peter Barber Architects
Kiln Place was a lesson to all local authorities on how to provide attractive and high-quality, high-density housing for public need.
Peter Barber Architects rejuvenated the post-war residential enclave and built 15 new homes – seven of which are for social rent – from the old estate entrance and on former plant rooms. Each is built to a high energy efficiency standard and trees were planted to increase the biodiversity of the area.
The clever fenestration layouts enabled the team to create private terraces for each home. It is a few minutes’ walk from Gospel underground and Hampstead Heath is just across the railway line.
Mews House Deep Retrofit in Notting Hill, By Prewett Bizley Architects
This is the extensive refurbishment of an end-of-terrace mews house in Notting Hill. The owners wanted to extend it for their growing family, allowing them to stay in the community. The other part of the brief, however, was to radically reduce its carbon footprint.
The architects completely stripped out the inside of the property and lined the exterior walls with a moisture-permeable insulating plaster and windows replaced with sash and case windows which act as if triple glazed. The property is now all electric with heating and cooling powered by the air source heat pump.
Mews House in South Kensington, by Creativemass
This box-like mews house has undergone an ambitious overhaul. The judges described it as "reworking a tiny building to good effect. The property had considerable constraints on a wedge shaped footprint which was one metre wide at its narrowest point, and abounded on three of its four sides by properties and garden walls.
The solution? To extend upwards and downwards. The roof was raised (literally) to create extra living quarters and to give it a loft-like feel. The basement sits below a glass floor with mirrored walls and houses a new bedroom and en suite.
Sideways House in Forest Gate, by Leep Architects
The judges said: "this is evidently an experimental, flexible home with spaces capable of easy adaptation between home, office, separate studio flat." Sideways House is one of two, three-storey terraced houses in Forest Gate.
Warehouse-like it has a roof terrace reached by stairs and spaces that can be shut off for different purposes.
The winter garden can be closed and the stairwell becomes different rooms on different levels.
There is a Mad Men-era style to the interiors with exposed brick and leather sofas. "An ingenious urban response to a tight site" and "exciting", the judges concluded.
Treehouse in West Ealing, by Fletcher Crane Architects
This two-bedroom home has been built on a 12m x 12m garage plot and general dumping ground on a site hemmed in by back gardens.
Using just three muted materials on the exterior – grey brick, black timber and tubular metalwork – the house has been almost stitched into its surroundings.
The subtle use of materials flows into the inside of the property where terrazzo tiles, metal balustrades, brick walls and ash joinery are used to soft effect. Two bedrooms and bathrooms are submerged into the semi sunken floors and outside is a sunken, planted courtyard.
