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00:00...of design brilliance with prolonged periods of architectural showmanship.
00:04There's a strong chance of concrete at ground level,
00:07timber cladding moving eastwards and intermittent glimpses of polished terrazzo.
00:12Light will play a key role, occasionally dappled, frequently dramatic
00:16and sometimes rather boldly emerging from beneath the stairs.
00:21Temperatures are set to rise in kitchens with underfloor heating,
00:24particularly where there's a hidden wine fridge.
00:26Wind resistance may be tested in houses built on stilts
00:30and viewers are advised to take shelter immediately if anyone talks about flow.
00:37Welcome to House of the Year.
00:40The competition is hotting up for the Royal Institute of British Architects' House of the Year
00:46as we welcome the last batch of long-listed homes.
00:51That's clever. Oh, heavens.
00:53The pressure's building and the competition is fiercer than ever for a place on the shortlist.
00:58Oh, this is really, really good.
01:01From houses that were built whilst under attack from midges...
01:05We had to hide in a caravan for an afternoon.
01:08Three grown men hiding in a caravan.
01:11...to homes that were built to the strictest of tolerances.
01:15Tim is known as Millimetre Tim in the business round.
01:18The houses we explore will be whittled down to a shortlist of just seven.
01:23I mean, what the heck?
01:26At the end, we'll discover which will be House of the Year 2025.
01:32So get ready.
01:33Grease all nipples and lubricate all joints.
01:36So far, five homes have claimed their place on the shortlist.
02:02Kirk and the Crake on the Isle of Harris.
02:06Hastings House, a triumph of engineering and elegance.
02:10And Triangle House, a house that takes you to the Caribbean.
02:14Then there's a Mento, a carefully crafted cruciform family home.
02:19And Jank's Barn, a barn conversion that keeps its character.
02:24There are two places left on the shortlist and five more buildings to explore.
02:32Snooping around these homes with me is the architect Damien Burrows.
02:37To have a courtyard garden here is quite something.
02:42And the conservation architect, Natasha Huck.
02:45Oh, wow, look at this.
02:47Some houses are born beautiful.
02:52Some acquire beauty.
02:53Others have beauty thrust upon them.
02:56Usually by an architect with a bold vision and a host of power tools.
03:00This category is all about transformation.
03:03And not the kind that involves a new doormat and a pharaoh and bull tester bot.
03:08These are epic, drafty bungalows, weary barns, structures long past their prime.
03:15Reimagined, reconfigured and re-emerged as architectural swans.
03:20They've been wrapped in zinc, filled with light, given poetry, purpose and soul.
03:26Oh, it's so stirring.
03:28I'm beginning to feel it'll transform myself.
03:30I might start wearing linen.
03:32Barth is experiencing a transformation of its own.
03:39You come here for Georgian grandeur, creamy stone and the odd bit of Regency cosplay.
03:45You don't come here for bungalows.
03:50But maybe you should.
03:53This is a house of wood shingle.
03:56A bungalow utterly transformed with a new skin of timber.
04:00Thousands of pieces of it.
04:07Hi.
04:08Hi.
04:08Good to meet you.
04:09Hi.
04:09The owners are Celia and Keith.
04:12Excellent place to be living.
04:15It's sort of becolic and befits a wooden house, I suppose.
04:19You've got a little shingle wooden house in the woods.
04:21Yeah.
04:22It used to be a 1960s kind of low-energy bungalow.
04:29As we said, low-energy has been really poor.
04:31Poor energy.
04:32Poor, yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:33Yeah.
04:34And then we wanted to kind of upgrade it, retrofit it, so that we could put in some sustainable
04:40heating elements.
04:41Yeah.
04:42And then the shingle came along as a kind of cladding to cover all the insulation.
04:47But it looks beautiful.
04:48It is beautiful.
04:48It looks beautiful.
04:49Because they're coursed.
04:50Yeah.
04:51They're not, you know, dropping and rising.
04:53So they're coursed.
04:54Yeah.
04:55And, of course, they're overlapped so that the joints are always staggered.
04:59Yeah.
04:59If we did it again on a bungalow, I think it's not the place to do the cedar shingle because
05:05it's such a vast kind of amount of square meterage.
05:08Yeah.
05:09But it is beautiful.
05:10And from a drone shot, it looks great.
05:13When you're working with an architect, you're quite often taking a sort of godlike view of
05:19it.
05:19So you're seeing 3D models and you're looking and you're kind of seeing a building in a
05:24way that you never really truly see.
05:26You go round to someone's house and knock on the door and they say, come in, would you
05:30like the tour?
05:31And you say, no, not really.
05:32Actually, now I've just come to see you.
05:34Yeah.
05:35But when people come here, you should just say, would you like to see the roof?
05:38Yeah.
05:38We've got a ladder here.
05:40We've got a ladder, yeah.
05:40Get out there.
05:41It's a hidden asset, isn't it?
05:43A hidden beauty, a hidden gem.
05:44Hidden money pit.
05:46Yeah, OK.
05:50More like an investment, I'd say.
05:52Along the back of the house are the three children's rooms and parents' bedroom suite,
06:00all connected by a vaulted corridor with skylights that leads to the new entrance hall.
06:07At the near end of the front half is the glass-walled kitchen diner.
06:11Next to that is a TV room.
06:14And at the far end is the living room with views across the valley.
06:22Inside, this place does not feel like a conventional bungalow, compartmentalized and closed off.
06:30No, instead, you can see down the length of the building.
06:34It feels connected and open.
06:38It's really neat.
06:40Really neat.
06:42Celia and Keith's architect has pulled off a clever trick, too, in the way he's divided up the house.
06:47So this entire depth, this is social space.
06:54Yeah.
06:54Yes.
06:54And then all the rooms behind this are all the cellular bedrooms.
06:58Yeah.
07:01The living and sleeping spaces are separated by a corridor that divides the building into two.
07:08We can kind of close it off so that this space is completely separate from the rooms at the back.
07:13Yeah.
07:14It's almost like the back part of the house is what would traditionally be like the upstairs of a building.
07:20And then this front part is like the downstairs.
07:23So we continue that separation even though it's all on one level.
07:29Walking through the kitchen and down to the sunken living room, your perspective suddenly shifts.
07:35Oh, yes, down some steps.
07:37Oh, so the whole thing kind of expands.
07:42It lifts as you walk into it.
07:44Oh, it's like two or three and a half meters or something, that sheet of glass.
07:48So you step down into a sort of sky observatory, really.
07:53Yeah, which is actually kind of almost exactly split across the middle so the horizon cuts halfway across those windows.
08:02Oh, and these clouds suddenly appear to be more powerful because you're framing this kind of great skyscape.
08:09What I love about this place is the variety of experiences that it offers.
08:17No two rooms in here are the same.
08:20From a room which just grabs that huge expansive landscape and that view to Wales beyond to the most intimate private window that's nestled into the hillside.
08:32And then into this.
08:33Oh, my Lord.
08:35This is the first bungalow I've ever seen that has a sort of ecclesiastical corridor.
08:40With little cellular rooms off.
08:42It's like being in a monastery.
08:46With these fantastic clear story lights that just grab sunshine, pull it into the building.
08:57I don't know why I'm whispering.
09:02Forgive me, bungalow, for I have stared.
09:05But beauty like this doesn't come easy.
09:08The process of making it can floor you.
09:13It was a long process.
09:15Yeah.
09:16And getting materials to the side.
09:17I mean, just the logistics of being here.
09:19That was tough.
09:20And I think we had, you know, quite a few phone calls.
09:22Because a private drive sounds like a nice idea.
09:25Yeah.
09:25Until you kind of realize that you can't get a big truck or lorry down the drive.
09:30And they've left everything on a pallet half a mile away.
09:34Yeah.
09:35Or just refused to deliver stuff.
09:37So there's a couple of kind of delivery drivers that we knew they could get in with one of their kind of grabbers and drop stuff off.
09:45They've gone to a lot of trouble reinterpreting this bungalow.
09:52This underrated building form, now reimagined, is once again taking its place in the spotlight.
10:02I suppose we think of bungalows as being background buildings, don't we?
10:07You know, part of the supporting cast of the theater of architecture that makes our cities and our towns.
10:15But what this place demonstrates is that you can take an individual from that supporting cast.
10:23You can believe in them, remodel them, reclose them.
10:27You can give them a script that works for them.
10:30And you can transform them into a glamorous, eloquent, witty center stage star.
10:39We've seen one shape-shifting home so far.
10:50Four more to see before we find out which will be shortlisted for the House of the Year 2025.
10:56The next longlister we're visiting in our Incredible Transformations category is in Suffolk.
11:14I'm off to see it.
11:17It's an exciting new set of buildings that transforms not something that was already there,
11:23but the very way we could build our homes.
11:28Most homes squeeze all of their functions underneath one single roof.
11:34But I'm off to see a home that transforms that very idea.
11:38Four different buildings, four separate functions, and one family.
11:44Welcome to Housestead.
11:53Housestead is four buildings arranged around a cross-shape in a central courtyard.
12:03To the south is a glazed thatch living pavilion with a kitchen dining area, a lounge, and bathroom.
12:10To the west is a solid brick working block containing a main bedroom with ensuite and office above.
12:16To the east is the sleeping block with five children's bedrooms and a guest bedroom.
12:22There is also a greenhouse structure to the front which acts as a winter garden.
12:27The corrugated metal north building is the utility block with a boiler room, garage, general store, and upper-level hangout.
12:36The owners are architect, husband, and wife, Amir and Abigail.
12:41All of the elements of the building are so far apart.
12:44What was the idea behind that?
12:46One's a living function, one's a sleeping function, one's utility, and one's work and study studio.
12:54It's really to sort of create four distinct zones where you have to go outside, experience the outdoors between the different functions.
13:01It wouldn't suit everybody, but I think if you enjoy being outdoors,
13:05you want a way of keeping a large family together as families develop.
13:12I think for us it's working brilliantly.
13:17As the children grow older, they can have their own space and come together with the adults here.
13:22This is the living block where the family can eat, chat, and socialize.
13:28It's part sitting room, part kitchen, part dining space, with a mezzanine floating above.
13:36All gloriously open plan.
13:39Oh, hello.
13:40This is, oh my word, it's stunning.
13:46The thatched roof seems to float on improbably thin steel columns.
13:51We wanted everything to be as light as possible so it's not detracting from the view.
13:54Nothing is bigger than it needs to be, so it's been finely engineered.
13:59Steel could have felt like a cold industrial material to use here, but it doesn't.
14:05Thanks to the clever colour choice, Suffolk Pink, a colour used on buildings in the area.
14:11The Suffolk Pink came from the fact that they used pig's blood to become the sort of binding material.
14:19In a lime wash, so you know, you mix protein and lime and it reacts and it creates the Suffolk Pink.
14:25So this is dragging Suffolk Pink into the 21st century.
14:28This is giving it a bit of oomph.
14:30Exactly.
14:31And it's the last thing people expect when they walk in here.
14:34Yes.
14:34This is a gorgeous pig.
14:35This is a gorgeous pig.
14:40Then, outside to another extraordinary building in this 21st century house stead.
14:47So we've come from a traditional thatched roof to lunar space module.
14:53You called it a lunar module landing and the way it was constructed really was very lunar-like.
14:58It was built in the area where we parked the cars, assembled and then raised by a crane and very lightly popped onto the roof, bolted down.
15:08In one section?
15:09The whole thing was built, bar the staircase, in the whole thing was built, raised up and popped down. It's great fun watching it go up.
15:16You have people reporting it, like there's a spacecraft landing next door.
15:20That's what's happened.
15:20It was a giant step for Suffolk.
15:22It's very much a lookout. It's very much a place for us to get away from everything else, but also our studio. And it's quite high up.
15:31Not quite 33 steps, but it's 31 steps. It's a very nice journey and you actually feel that you're just getting away from everything. You can go up there and just escape.
15:39Pick up a book, pick up a book, finish off a project. Curiouser and curiouser. From a space oddity to a greenhouse built into a bedroom wing. Nothing conventional about that either.
15:53This is a thermal camera and it's a great way of showing exactly where the heat is in a house. Now, in a normal home, you'd expect to see hot spots around the radiators and chimney flues. But if we take a look down here.
16:06Wow. It's off the charts hot. By design, incredibly, this glazed corridor helps heat the hot water for the whole house.
16:18So we've got a sort of glazed corridor that is designed to get very hot during the day and helps provide us with all our hot water.
16:27So you've got all this hot air here. It's rising up through there, passing over the copper pipes and just heating up your hot water.
16:35And meanwhile, the bedrooms behind remain really beautifully cool.
16:40Yeah, the temperature difference. You can really feel it, can't you?
16:42Yeah.
16:43You're in a greenhouse.
16:44I am.
16:45Oh, as soon as you come through here.
16:49Isn't this just really cool?
16:51Just calm.
16:52It's really cool and calm.
16:53The transition between the cool, the hot and outside into the fresh in such a short distance of time, it's quite something.
17:03That's thanks to the thick timber walls between the greenhouse and the bedrooms which contain the heat.
17:09Ingenious engineering, thoughtful design and a love of innovation are all things to be admired about this house.
17:16Like all good things, though, Amir and Abigail had to wait for it.
17:21We didn't finish. We didn't arrive when it had finished because we first moved in when the building had power but no lighting.
17:30So we camped. We camped for quite a long time and we rigged up lights.
17:34And because we wanted to be here, we moved in at the very first opportunity.
17:39So it's been very much an adventure, really. The children have been very patient.
17:47But now, now it feels like it's properly finished.
17:50There's this thing called Suffolk Time that we didn't know about, but we kind of managed to work with it.
17:56And it's, um, I'm sorry, it's very different to London time.
17:59Well, Suffolk Time is, you know, you know, things happen when they happen often.
18:05Not necessarily that we'd be aware that they're going to happen when they happen, but they do happen.
18:10They happen to a very good standard.
18:15I'll say this is a family home for the 21st century, where children and adults each have their own space.
18:23Whether it's the utility block with its games room above or the private bedroom wings, where everyone can retreat when they need to.
18:31And then, when they're ready, they gather to cook, to eat, to live together.
18:39The watchtower, the thatched glazed pavilion, the Nissan hut.
18:46Individually, these are striking, odd, even a little eccentric.
18:51But together, they form something that is unique and compelling.
18:57They form architecture that is bold, inventive, and entirely personal.
19:06We've seen two remarkable transformations so far.
19:10Three more to go before we find out which will be shortlisted for the House of the Year 2025.
19:21Some things just seem understated.
19:27A navy blue Vauxhall, a pair of traditional brogues.
19:32Jeff, from the parish council.
19:34And then, then you look closer and you discover that Jeff is actually a belly dancer,
19:39and that the brogues are handmade in Florence, and that the Vauxhall does 0-60 in Lesson 5.
19:46Think of our next longlister as Jeff.
19:53It's in the quiet, rolling hills of Somerset.
19:56It used to look like this.
19:59Before it was knocked down and was reborn as this.
20:07Definitely an upgrade.
20:10This is the orchards.
20:11The house is mostly single-storey, stepping down gently with the landscape.
20:19You enter into a wide hallway, the heart of the home,
20:22which leads one way to the public spaces and the other to the private wing.
20:26In the public area, there's an open-plan kitchen, dining, and living space,
20:31which opens onto a veranda.
20:33A flexible room nearby serves as a playroom, gym, or guest space.
20:37In the private wing, there are two children's bedrooms,
20:42a family bathroom, and a main bedroom suite at the far end.
20:45There's also a small, upper-level guest room.
20:48It's home to Jonathan and Kirsty.
20:51Hi.
20:52Hi.
20:52Kirsty, right?
20:53Yes.
20:54Hi.
20:54Nice to meet you.
20:55And you too, Jonathan.
20:56Jonathan.
20:56This building catches you off guard, and that's entirely the point.
21:03Sometimes buildings are really loud, and, you know, they assert themselves,
21:07and this one does the opposite.
21:09Right up until the moment, you sort of get to there.
21:12It's a low-key entrance, and I think that fits us.
21:15We're sort of...
21:16Flashy on the inside, people.
21:17You walk in to a beautiful open-plan kitchen.
21:25The RIBA judges admired the restrained material palette
21:29and touches a luxury inside a home that was respectful to its rural setting.
21:35It's really nice, isn't it?
21:37And they've taken special measures to keep it that way,
21:41to defend it from the ravages of children.
21:44What is that kitchen tabletop made from?
21:46Is that stainless steel?
21:48Yep.
21:48Yes, it's stainless steel.
21:49Giant piece.
21:50Four, five millimetres thick.
21:52How did that materialise?
21:54This was your one...
21:55I think one of our themes throughout the whole house was,
21:58it's got to be robust.
22:00If it looks perfect on day one, but gets beaten up by family life,
22:04it just won't work for us.
22:05And you've got another one over there,
22:06which is just as reflective and beautiful,
22:08and that's hugely long.
22:09Is that one piece of steel?
22:11It is one giant piece.
22:12One single piece of steel.
22:13I don't think we knew it when we set out to make it,
22:16but there's only one place in the country
22:18who could cope with a piece of steel that I love.
22:22But this room isn't just built to be durable.
22:25It hides a few playful secrets.
22:29Is that a door, that thing, that great big piece of wall?
22:31One of our few kid-free spaces.
22:36So the little one didn't realise this was an actual room
22:39for, what, four or five months of being here,
22:41because we kept that door closed.
22:43And then it blew her little mind one day
22:44when her brother had left it open,
22:46and she discovered this whole extra space.
22:47How she was going to grow up is such a complex,
22:50about deprivation,
22:51about being the junior, excluded member of the family.
22:53Or the joy of what's behind the door.
22:57Or that, yeah.
22:57Or she'll just love surprises, yeah.
23:01In this house, no room is quite what you think it is.
23:05One stayed hidden for months behind a barely noticed door,
23:09and the corridor turns out it's doing far more
23:12than getting you from A to B.
23:15So this is the corridor stroke street?
23:18Yes.
23:19Sort of public highway.
23:22It's almost become an extra room.
23:23It's where kids come out of the bathroom,
23:25we get them dry, dry hair, brush teeth.
23:28Spend, yeah, a lot of time in this as a space.
23:31You've got a place where they can easily come out
23:34and put on plays and have a chat and create a den.
23:38And I read somewhere that every house should have
23:40at least one space big enough to get a toddler up to full speed.
23:43Yeah.
23:45Those bits in between
23:47and the not-quite-a-room liminal spaces
23:50are what I find most interesting about this house.
23:53These are the bits that quietly steal the show.
23:56We love to have labels for rooms,
23:58and the moment it hasn't got a label,
24:00the moment it's ambiguous,
24:01we worry that it's wasteful.
24:04It's been a surprise,
24:05but yeah, we really live in those in-between spaces.
24:08The rooms themselves aren't too shabby either.
24:14Full of personality and fun,
24:16that was important to the architect Graham Bisley.
24:21Each room has a different character by what you see outside.
24:24That bathroom's almost like a little chapel.
24:26You kind of go in,
24:27and the timber screen as you go in is a cross-shape,
24:29and you go through,
24:30and there's this little side chapel,
24:31which is the shower.
24:32Every day experience should be pleasurable.
24:35It's not just a functional thing,
24:37walking out of your room and going for breakfast or whatever.
24:39You can have an experience on that journey.
24:42This is a house that is thoughtful and full of surprise.
24:50It's calm but never dull.
24:53Every corner has been considered.
24:56Every detail earns its place.
25:01And the result is silently special,
25:04a home that works and one that keeps getting better
25:08the longer you spend time here.
25:09This is a quiet house.
25:14You know, it has its cholera
25:15and its eyes to the ground
25:17as it slowly slips its way
25:20through the grasses in the orchard.
25:24But, you know, it may be quiet,
25:26but it is also resilient,
25:29and it's playful,
25:31and it is strong,
25:35and in places also ambiguous.
25:37I mean, it works a magic.
25:38And I'm sure that if I spent time here
25:40in its company,
25:41my blood pressure would lower
25:44and I would perhaps be more at peace with myself
25:47and even perhaps a little happier,
25:50which makes it
25:52a really transformative building.
25:56Oh, you know you turn up at a party
26:05and somebody's just looking fantastic,
26:08and you think,
26:09what is it?
26:10Is it their hair?
26:11They've got new glasses?
26:12They've been to the dentist?
26:13What is it?
26:14And then you realise
26:16they sort of just know what they're doing.
26:18It's just a gentle, all-over,
26:20even lift.
26:21Right, this next place.
26:29I'm in London looking at our next long lister.
26:31This is a house that's been transformed,
26:36but rather than being turned
26:38into something completely new,
26:40it's been redefined
26:41as a sophisticated version of itself.
26:43This was an unremarkable
26:471960s terraced house.
26:50Now crafted into a piece of iconic-looking
26:531960s modernist architecture.
26:57The judges were awestruck
26:58by the fact it retained the character
27:00of the original building,
27:01yet was completely remade.
27:03In this masterfully reworked home,
27:07the ground floor is a spacious,
27:09double-height kitchen dining room
27:10with a utility room
27:12and toilet next to it.
27:15On the first floor
27:16is a living room
27:17with outside balcony
27:18and a cosy snug.
27:20On the second floor
27:22are the two children's bedrooms
27:23and a bathroom.
27:25And on the third floor
27:26is the adult bedroom
27:27with en-suite.
27:28The architect
27:33who realised
27:34this extraordinary vision
27:36was Dingle Price.
27:37Hi, Danielle.
27:38Hi, welcome.
27:39Thanks, how are you?
27:40Well, you?
27:41You arrive into a small corridor.
27:44Above are stairs
27:45up to a living room and balcony,
27:47bedroom and bathroom.
27:49But the real magic
27:50is at ground floor level.
27:52It's so lush.
27:55The view teasingly opens out
27:56over the kitchen and dining room
27:58to an incredible garden beyond.
28:01What was here before?
28:03There was a kitchen
28:04on the left side
28:05and on the right
28:05there was a dining area
28:07and of course
28:07it was all at the same level.
28:11It began as a bog-standard
28:131960s house.
28:15Now, Dingle has remade it
28:16in the language of brutalism,
28:18the cutting edge
28:19of high-end design
28:20in the 60s
28:21when exposed concrete
28:22and bold form
28:24were the height
28:24of architectural fashion.
28:26A lot of the concrete
28:28in the building
28:28is exposing beams
28:30that were already there
28:31but were uncovered.
28:32But then we've also introduced
28:34a certain amount
28:34of new concrete.
28:37It's only when you get
28:38to ground level
28:38you can fully appreciate
28:40this extraordinary room.
28:43There's so much drama
28:44to this space.
28:45I mean,
28:46the height of the ceilings
28:47and then this view
28:48out to this lush garden.
28:49I mean,
28:50it's really unexpected.
28:52What did you have to do
28:52to create it?
28:53Well, the key to it
28:54is the excavation.
28:55There was a Victorian building
28:56that stood on this site.
28:58Oh, the building
28:59before the 1960s building?
29:01It just turned out
29:02that the original building
29:03had very, very deep foundations
29:04and that meant
29:06relatively easily
29:07we could dig away the earth
29:09to create this high space.
29:10So we've excavated
29:11a metre and a half
29:12down from the original
29:13ground floor level.
29:16But from then on,
29:17Dingle had set himself
29:18an incredibly hard task
29:20by choosing to keep
29:21everything exposed.
29:23It's a project
29:24with no paint.
29:25Everything is the exposed
29:27materials,
29:27which goes back
29:28to this sort of
29:29original idea
29:30of brutalism.
29:31But because of that,
29:33you know,
29:33it's very unforgiving.
29:34If you put a light switch
29:35in the wrong place,
29:36you can't just move it
29:38and repaint.
29:40You end up basically
29:41having to replaster
29:42the whole wall.
29:44There was nowhere
29:45to hide mistakes,
29:46no layer
29:47that could cover them up.
29:48Not the usual way
29:49of doing things.
29:50The contractor
29:51wasn't convinced
29:52to begin with.
29:54If I'm honest,
29:56we actually thought
29:57Dingle was going mad.
29:58Everything was experimental.
30:00It was definitely
30:00a challenge
30:01and it's not the way
30:02we usually do our projects
30:03because, you know,
30:04it costs a lot more money
30:06to experiment.
30:07I guess the most difficult
30:09for us was
30:10when we stripped
30:12the structure back
30:13to its original
30:14block work
30:15and brick work.
30:16We couldn't see the vision.
30:18But who could argue
30:21with the elegance
30:22of the end result?
30:24Though what looks
30:25effortless now
30:26took days of trial
30:27and error
30:27that tested the limits
30:29of everyone involved.
30:31It's the level
30:31of craft, care
30:32and control here
30:33that makes this retrofit
30:35so quietly radical.
30:39Everything about this house
30:41challenges
30:41what we would normally expect
30:43from a 1960s infill,
30:45from brutalist materials
30:46and from a retrofit.
30:48Instead of clearing
30:49everything away,
30:50the architect
30:50has made subtle adjustments
30:52to what was here,
30:53completely transforming
30:54the space
30:55and really making the most
30:56of the character
30:57of the existing house.
31:00We've seen four houses
31:01so far,
31:02transformed beautifully
31:04in different ways.
31:05There's one more to go
31:06before we find out
31:07which will make
31:08the shortlist.
31:08And then,
31:10from all those
31:10shortlisted homes,
31:11we'll discover
31:12which one
31:13will win the title
31:14for the House of the Year
31:152025.
31:25A key part
31:26of the architectural imagination
31:28is seeing
31:30how something
31:31can be transformed.
31:32To look at a building
31:33that's unloved
31:34and unused
31:35and imagine it
31:36as a place
31:36entirely new.
31:38Now,
31:39this building,
31:41which was built
31:41by the architects
31:42Tonkin knew,
31:43began life
31:43as a rusty old
31:45water tower.
31:46They had the vision
31:47to transform it,
31:49to turn
31:49the concrete stem
31:51into a staircase
31:52and the steel tank
31:53at the top
31:54into this
31:55beautiful living room
31:57with the best seats
31:59in the house.
31:59I mean,
32:00literally,
32:01it is a bold bit
32:02of rethinking.
32:03But our next
32:04longlister,
32:06they've pulled off
32:07something arguably
32:07even more extreme.
32:12Once upon a time,
32:14on the Isle of Wight,
32:15in the early 1900s,
32:18a humble cowshed
32:19was built.
32:22With slurry underfoot,
32:24hay overhead,
32:25and the occasional swallow
32:27nesting in the rafters.
32:28A hundred years later,
32:32it was deserted,
32:34derelict,
32:34and forgotten,
32:36until Joseph,
32:38an artist and academic,
32:40learned about it.
32:41I saw some photographs,
32:43and I was immediately
32:44attracted,
32:45so much so
32:46that I told the kids,
32:47I'll be back in an hour.
32:49I identified where
32:50the barn was,
32:51got in the car,
32:52came here,
32:53let myself in,
32:55it was open,
32:56sort of,
32:57and stood in the courtyard
32:59and thought like,
33:00this is where I want to live.
33:04And so,
33:05the old buyer
33:06was born.
33:08An extraordinary transformation,
33:10one that keeps
33:11much of what was there before,
33:12but gently adds
33:14newer elements.
33:16The space we're in
33:16at the moment
33:17is where I socialize
33:18and where I cook
33:19and where I spend the day
33:20and spend time with friends.
33:22This is a really open space,
33:25whereas the other buyers
33:26of the barn,
33:26the 19th century barn,
33:28has smaller,
33:30more intimate spaces.
33:32My library,
33:35corridors,
33:37spaces for sleeping,
33:40bathroom,
33:42and spaces that can be used
33:44as studios.
33:47So, in their nature,
33:48they're very, very different.
33:50The old buyer
33:52is in fact not one,
33:53but two barns,
33:54one built in the early 1900s,
33:56the other in the 1960s.
33:58The newer barn
33:59houses the main living space,
34:01a bright open kitchen,
34:03a generous dining area,
34:04and a calm,
34:05stripped-back lounge.
34:07The older,
34:08L-shaped barn
34:09holds the bedrooms
34:10and a couple of quiet
34:11studio spaces.
34:12The R-I-B-A judges admired the contrasts
34:16this project offered
34:17where new and old materials
34:19and structures
34:20sit comfortably alongside each other,
34:23nowhere more so
34:24than in the main living and working space.
34:26The roof is pretty much
34:29as it was.
34:30We reinforced it,
34:32visibly mended it
34:33where we had to.
34:35There are still remnants
34:37of what is probably
34:38cow poo on the wall.
34:40There is a swallow's nest.
34:41There is hair.
34:42There are old nails.
34:44So, all of this
34:44is still in the walls.
34:47The construction approach
34:48was deliberately
34:49as rough and ready
34:50as the original building itself.
34:52The doors came from Spain,
34:55I think,
34:56which took a long time.
34:58One of the doors
34:58didn't quite fit,
35:00so I rang the builder
35:01and a few hours later
35:02it was sorted.
35:03I think they shaved
35:04a little bit off
35:05the door frame,
35:06or the door,
35:07or either.
35:08I'm not going to ask.
35:11One of the greatest
35:12interventions here
35:13is what they've done
35:14to the front of the building.
35:17By day,
35:18it brings in soft light.
35:21By night,
35:22it glows.
35:25The facade
35:26that faces the courtyard
35:27is made from polycarbonate,
35:28so it looks like paper.
35:31It lets light in
35:32and brings light
35:33into the space.
35:35This insulated facade
35:36cost an eye-watering
35:3817 grand,
35:39a unique expense
35:40in what was otherwise
35:41a cost-conscious home
35:42built for $360,000.
35:44Extraordinary for a project
35:46of this ambition.
35:48The budget was tight,
35:50but that led to
35:52most of the decisions
35:54we made about everything.
35:55I don't think there's anything
35:56where we thought
35:57we're going to spend more
35:58on this element.
35:59So we tested thoroughly
36:01the costs
36:02of different approaches
36:03and that's how
36:04we made decisions.
36:05so I wouldn't say
36:06it was to do with
36:07spending more
36:09on certain elements.
36:10The old buyer
36:17is masterful,
36:19not a glossy
36:20reinterpretation
36:21of raw rusticity.
36:22New materials
36:23and ideas
36:24have here
36:25been finely tuned
36:26to an appropriate level
36:27of humility.
36:29With that
36:29comes a gentle,
36:31brutal honesty.
36:32It's a cowshed
36:33made livable,
36:34not just through redesign,
36:35but in the refusal
36:36to lie about
36:37what it ever was.
36:38Why did I keep
36:41the swallow's nest?
36:42What would be
36:43the advantage
36:44of removing it?
36:45Like I would take away
36:46a story of the building.
36:55We've explored
36:56five remarkable homes
36:58so far,
36:59but which will earn
37:00their place
37:00on the coveted shortlist?
37:03The house of wood shingle,
37:05a 60s bungalow
37:06wrapped head to toe
37:07in timber,
37:07part house,
37:08part hedgehog.
37:10Housestead,
37:11four buildings,
37:12one family home,
37:14a place that rewrites
37:15the idea
37:15of what a house is.
37:17The orchards,
37:19barn on the outside,
37:20bond lair on the inside.
37:23London brute,
37:24a concrete wedge
37:25in a polite London postcode,
37:27brutalism
37:28with a posh accent.
37:30The old buyer,
37:32a luminous barn conversion
37:34where the history's intact,
37:36swallow's nest and all.
37:41Joining me
37:42is the chair of the judges,
37:44David Kohn.
37:45David,
37:45how many projects
37:46from this category
37:47have you selected
37:48for the shortlist?
37:49So there are two projects
37:50in this category.
37:51First being?
37:52London Brutes.
37:56Of all the ones we saw,
37:58probably it's the project
38:00that is most concerned
38:02with elegance.
38:03It's a very refined,
38:06calm experience
38:07to be there.
38:09And I think
38:10the abiding memory
38:11one would have
38:12of the visit
38:13is the relationship
38:14of these exquisitely
38:15proportioned rooms
38:16and gardens.
38:20That's fantastic.
38:23Feels,
38:24feels all of that work
38:26has been worthwhile.
38:27So what's the second house
38:31that you've chosen?
38:33The second house
38:33is house stead.
38:38Which is more than a house.
38:40It's a stead.
38:41It's an arrangement
38:42of buildings.
38:43Living,
38:44sleeping,
38:45service,
38:46quarter.
38:48Take away any one
38:49of the parts
38:49and it doesn't work.
38:50Yeah.
38:50It needs them all
38:51and the house is
38:52all of them together.
38:53A lot of people
38:54won't like it.
38:55A lot of people
38:56will look at that
38:56and say,
38:57I'm not going to live
38:57like that.
38:58Why should I walk
38:58in the rain
38:59just to go and put
39:00a log in the wood burner?
39:02It is an experimental
39:02project.
39:03I think it's a project
39:04which takes
39:05a lot of licence
39:06with a lot of things
39:07and makes something
39:09utterly unique.
39:12Being shortlisted
39:13is fabulous.
39:15Really,
39:15really pleased.
39:17Yeah,
39:17couldn't be more pleased.
39:19Fabulous.
39:19It's a great reward.
39:20Yeah.
39:21Thank you very much.
39:24So,
39:24Housestead
39:25and London Brute
39:26take their place
39:27on the shortlist.
39:29That's it.
39:30The shortlist
39:30is complete
39:31and we now have
39:32our seven finalists
39:34for the 2025
39:35Royal Institute
39:36of British Architects
39:37House of the Year.
39:39In the running,
39:40we have
39:41Kirk and the Craig
39:42on the Isle of Harris
39:43and Hastings House
39:45on the South Coast.
39:47There's the glorious
39:48Triangle House,
39:50the agricultural
39:51Jank's barn,
39:52Amento
39:54and then
39:55Housestead
39:56and London Brute.
39:59The judges
40:00have a very difficult
40:01decision to make.
40:02so I'm walking
40:07up a hill
40:07to visit
40:09this year's winner
40:10of House of the Year.
40:11Now,
40:11I'm hoping the background
40:12is out of focus
40:14because it's important
40:15that you shouldn't
40:16be able to tell
40:17where I am.
40:17No, no, no,
40:18come back here.
40:19Sorry,
40:20not just yet.
40:22What I'll say is
40:23the building's
40:24right in front of me
40:25and it looks extraordinary.
40:27It is this
40:34incredible home
40:35that takes the prize.
40:37Kirk and the Craig
40:38on the Isle of Harris
40:40in Scotland,
40:41built through sleep
40:42and struggle
40:43and storm
40:44by its owners
40:45Ailey and Jack.
40:47Hi.
40:47Yeah.
40:48Nice to meet you.
40:49Ailey, how are you?
40:50Hi.
40:50Good to see you both.
40:52Who, by the way,
40:53think I've just come
40:54to visit their
40:54shortlisted building.
40:55Nice to show you
40:56in person
40:57and actually be here.
40:58Well, no,
40:59it's so important,
41:00isn't it,
41:00to actually make
41:01the effort to go
41:01and visit something
41:02and be there
41:02and experience it.
41:03I mean,
41:03it's made from that.
41:05It's made from
41:05everything around it.
41:06So good.
41:07It's so good.
41:08And by the way,
41:09congratulations
41:09on making the shortlist.
41:11So deserving.
41:12Oh, sorry,
41:13I forgot to say also,
41:13congratulations on winning.
41:15No way.
41:16Yeah.
41:17Incredible.
41:17This is House of the Year
41:182025.
41:19Wow.
41:24Oh, my God.
41:25How about that?
41:25That's fantastic.
41:26Sorry,
41:27I couldn't not tell you.
41:27I couldn't not tell you.
41:30Congratulations.
41:31Oh, my gosh.
41:32Thank you so much.
41:33So good.
41:33So good.
41:34And so well-deserved.
41:36Oh, my gosh.
41:37I can't believe it.
41:39Have we actually?
41:40Oh, my gosh.
41:40Yes, you have.
41:41That's why I've come to see you.
41:44Because it's so clever.
41:46Well, it's built from the landscape
41:48and you point out this rock
41:49and everything is moving around it.
41:51So, yeah.
41:52Yeah.
41:55This house is crafted from the very rock
41:58that the island is made from.
42:00This is the local stone.
42:02Local stone.
42:03And it's called?
42:04Louisian Nice.
42:06From the Isle of Louis.
42:07Yeah.
42:08Louisian Nice.
42:09But that's one of the most ancient stones
42:11on the planet, isn't it?
42:12Yeah, it's incredibly old
42:13and it's the reason why Harris is still here
42:15because it's made of the hard rock.
42:19It makes your house a billion years old.
42:22Yeah, exactly.
42:24Louisian Nice.
42:25Tough as anything.
42:27And exactly what you want
42:28between you and a howling Atlantic storm.
42:31That protects the house.
42:33They've got this to protect the occupants.
42:36I love this.
42:36This is your fantastic threshold.
42:39A glorious entry.
42:43A beautiful porch.
42:43Very deep.
42:44Covered.
42:45Yeah.
42:45Yeah.
42:46The shelter's really important.
42:47Why is that?
42:50It gets a bit windy.
42:52Yeah.
42:54Nothing quite prepares you
42:56for the experience of walking in.
42:59Oh.
43:02This is unexpected
43:03because you approach the building from the front
43:04and it's like a pillbox.
43:06Yeah.
43:06It's like a very small.
43:08It's like a TARDIS in stone.
43:10Yes.
43:10Then reaches back.
43:11You think it's just long and thin.
43:12It's not long and thin at all.
43:14I look down there,
43:15see the reflection.
43:16Yeah.
43:16There's the dining table
43:17which is a lovely thing
43:18because it's circular and welcoming.
43:20And then there's this view
43:21of just the rock on the hill
43:23and what's clever here
43:24is it's like this floor
43:27and the outside.
43:28It's simply a continuation.
43:30Yeah.
43:30I think that's one of the hardest things
43:31that we find in architecture
43:32is trying to allow,
43:35talk to people and say
43:36that is a really good view,
43:38maybe the best view of the site
43:39but don't just reveal it all straight away.
43:42Yeah.
43:42Layer through it
43:43like you were saying,
43:44almost like a story.
43:45Architecture should be this revealing,
43:47this kind of staged act if you like.
43:49And I think it makes it quite creative.
43:51Yeah.
43:52And I'm very taken with it.
43:55So what was it particularly
43:57that won over the judges?
44:00Why did you choose this to be the winner?
44:02It was, I would say,
44:04really hard but unanimous decision.
44:07To do a project like this
44:09in such a remote location
44:10on that budget
44:12required a partnership
44:13that is really admirable.
44:16And I don't think every couple
44:18would survive
44:20doing that kind of self-built project.
44:24What an amazing achievement
44:25against lots of odds.
44:27I mean, this project's just been ambitious
44:28on so many levels,
44:29not only with the detailing,
44:31the way it's actually made and crafted,
44:33but also the couple
44:34and their plan to build the house themselves.
44:37Such a good point, isn't it?
44:38Yeah.
44:39Definitely often the bigger
44:40and the baggier something is,
44:41the less energy it has
44:43and you can find extraordinary energy
44:45in this more perfectly made thing.
44:48It's this quiet, determined,
44:55palpable energy
44:56born of hands that shape stone,
44:59of minds that listen to the land
45:01that makes this building
45:03the house of the year 2025.
45:04That building speaks eloquently
45:10of this entire place.
45:13It speaks of people.
45:14It speaks of the story
45:15of a handful of them
45:16carrying stone,
45:19drying wood,
45:20and crafting with their knuckles
45:22and their fingers
45:23every tiny square inch
45:25of this building.
45:26This is the future, isn't it?
45:30This points somewhere else.
45:32This doesn't say,
45:33look at me.
45:34I've got a huge cantilever.
45:35This says,
45:37I have a role,
45:38and an important role here,
45:40in responding to people
45:42and to place.
45:43It's almost as though
45:45this is the building
45:46that this island
45:48and this part of the world
45:50was waiting for.
45:50I'll see you in a little bit moreouv names.
45:57I love you.
45:59I love you.
45:59I love you.
45:59I love you.
46:00Transcription by CastingWords
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