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00:00Competición.
00:01Gets a bad rep these days, doesn't it?
00:04I mean, you can get a medal just for turning up.
00:07Darwin, however, he said that competition leads to evolution,
00:11the means whereby we advance,
00:13how we improve our lot and ourselves.
00:17And so it is.
00:17With the Royal Institute of British Architects House of the Year Award 2025.
00:23Knuckle-draggers not welcome.
00:27In the great ecosystem of British housing,
00:30these are the apex predators.
00:32Sharp, instinctive and fully evolved.
00:36That's clever.
00:37Oh, heavens.
00:39The judges have chosen a long list of Britain's most remarkable new buildings.
00:43Oh, this is really, really good.
00:47From houses that were a battle to build.
00:51It was extreme living, I would say.
00:52I was sharing my caravan with my dog.
00:55We didn't have a shower on site.
00:56To those homes that positively glow.
01:00Oh, my Lord.
01:01It's good from down below, but it's better from up here because...
01:04I know, right?
01:05The houses we explore will be whittled down to a short list of just seven.
01:09The range on offer is really, really exciting.
01:13I think it'll be really exciting to see the house that wins and shines through.
01:18Before we find out in the final programme,
01:20which one is crowned House of the Year 2025?
01:23So join us as we bring you this year's pinnacle of house-building evolution.
01:30So far, three homes have claimed their place on the short list.
01:57Kirk and the Craig on the Isle of Harris.
02:01Hastings House, a triumph of engineering and elegance.
02:06And Triangle House, a home that takes you away to the Caribbean.
02:13Now we have six more buildings to explore.
02:18Snooping around them with me is the architect Damien Burrows.
02:23Oh, this is breathtaking.
02:25And the conservation architect Natasha Huck.
02:29Oh, look at this place.
02:31It's just so welcoming.
02:34This time, we're looking at houses that celebrate their materials and their craftsmanship.
02:39And if you think that craft these days is all about hand-wittled cotton buds
02:44or crocheted modesty toilet roll holders, then think again, because in the 21st century, craftsmanship is expressed in buildings.
02:53So expect concrete, steel, lasers, alongside the usual timber and stone.
02:59And in Cambridge, our first long-lister comes with a health warning.
03:14Dangerously absorbing craftsmanship.
03:16The sort that stops you in your tracks and could see you missing lunch, tea, and possibly winter.
03:23Oh, well, this is lovely.
03:28This is Mill Hyde.
03:31Outside, weathered, rust-red steel.
03:34Inside, cool, white Italian limestone.
03:39A house of contrasts.
03:41Brought together by its architect owner, Tim, and his wife, Liz.
03:50What a lovely moment arriving here.
03:56Tucked into the Cambridgeshire Fenland, Mill Hyde is an extraordinary sculptural home.
04:02It's designed around a central courtyard or winter garden with a giant roof light that actually opens.
04:08All the rooms are off this space.
04:11There's a kitchen, a living area, come dining space, then three bedrooms and three bathrooms.
04:17All encased in what looks like a continuous skin of rusty steel.
04:25I'd expect to find a cladding system of panels where the gaps are all millimetre equal.
04:33But here, they're very tightly butted.
04:35Tim is known as Millimetre Tim in the business round.
04:40I like that, though.
04:41I mean, we could do with a few more millimetre people.
04:44I wanted this to appear as though it was a piece of solid steel.
04:48But that skin is designed in such a way that there are no visible fixings.
04:52The corners of the window reveals are always folded, so you never see the thickness of the metal.
04:58So that it actually gives you that feeling of total solidity.
05:02That's really elegantly thought through.
05:04The inspiration for this was the work of the world-famous sculptor Richard Serra, who specialised in working with steel.
05:15I mean, he's a great sculptor.
05:16And thinking about a piece of sculpture in the landscape, you know, you have to look at something like art in the landscape in New Zealand, which is 280 metres, quarter-end steel, 40 millimetres thick, six metres high.
05:31And that was what I wanted to achieve.
05:33Step inside, and holy illuminati!
05:40It's bright, white, calm, like walking into the centre of a cloud.
05:46You walk into the winter garden, an internal courtyard at the centre of the house, from which all the rooms radiate.
05:54The intention was you have open space on all four sides, but the ability to actually close that off in such a way that those openings became part of the internal surface of the central court.
06:08And, you know, so they're pivoted doors, which...
06:13Well, they do move. They do pivot, yeah. Right.
06:15So, by a very simple motion.
06:19Oh, very light.
06:21They're just on a little...
06:23They're on spring-loaded pivots.
06:24Yes, spring... Oh, wow, that's so elegant.
06:26So they land exactly where they should.
06:28Bye, Liz!
06:29Bye!
06:29So, with all the doors closed, this becomes a gallery, and it has that enclosure quality.
06:38Very, very clever indeed.
06:40This is super satisfying because, and I would expect nothing else, Tim,
06:44the illusion and the integrity of that wall only works because everything's absolutely...
06:52Flat.
06:53In line and flush.
06:55Millimetres again.
06:56Yeah.
06:56That's not the only trick this space offers.
07:03Would you like to see the roof light open?
07:05Yeah, I dearly would.
07:08Yeah.
07:10I mean, here we are. We're inside the building.
07:13So cli...
07:14So clearly.
07:17Oh, the entire thing slides.
07:22Oh, heavens.
07:26The light changes and shifts.
07:37Doors open and close and spaces change.
07:41This house feels like a living, breathing thing.
07:44Do you know, when I first saw this place, I thought, goodness me, that looks so calm and still and unchanging and almost impregnable, you know?
07:56Then I realised, of course, inside it's the exact opposite.
08:00Its potential to change is vast.
08:02It's changing all the time.
08:04Things are moving.
08:05Spaces are opening up.
08:06It just reminds me that great architecture has got very little to do with what things look like and much more to do with what places feel like.
08:20We've seen one house so far, five more to go until we find out which will be shortlisted for the House of the Year 2025.
08:32Ah, suburbia.
08:47That curious British in-between, neatly balanced between the buzz of the city and the calm of the countryside.
08:54A land built on brick bay windows, garden walls, decorative lintels, each a quiet celebration of everyday craft.
09:04Our next house doesn't just nod to that tradition, it reinvents it.
09:09It is a love letter to local materials and a masterclass in modern craftsmanship.
09:15Lemma and Nicole set up their own architectural practice three years ago.
09:27The chance to do their first project together came about one Christmas at Nicole's parents' home.
09:36It was very cramped.
09:38One Christmas, we were trying to get everyone in the space we had.
09:42It was impossible.
09:43So, Lemma said, I can make it better.
09:48So, we said, right, get some plans done and have a look.
09:55The house in Norfolk was a beautiful Victorian home.
09:59With a leaky extension built in the 1990s, the extension came down.
10:04And instead, Lemma and Nicole built this beautiful brick box for £500,000.
10:12The new addition to the old house gives Nicole's parents all the space they need for entertaining.
10:23With a kitchen, dining room and living space all in one, all wrapped in beautiful brick detailing.
10:31We looked round the local area and there's really beautiful detailing on a lot of the houses.
10:40The particular ribbed brickwork was inspired by the chimney on the house.
10:45And the cast corbels were inspired by the dogtooth corbling on the existing house.
10:50So, it was kind of a contemporary take on the existing details.
10:56Corbling is where bricks jut out above one another.
11:00Dogtooth corbling is where they stick out diagonally in a sharp point.
11:05You see brick corbling done, but it doesn't have that point of difference that we wanted to kind of achieve
11:10when we were thinking about introducing contemporary elements to the house.
11:13That point of difference was using bricks in the middle and then concrete at the top
11:20to form continuous dogtooth panels.
11:23It was cast in specially made moulds cut from plastic foam.
11:28These were placed into formwork boxes and then the concrete poured, tinted brick red with dye.
11:34In the back of the garden, we had some fencing set up and a concrete mixer.
11:41I mean, it looked like a bloodbath because it was pigmented concrete.
11:46For a good, like, six months, you'd know where we'd been.
11:48Every day you'd come home, you'd rinse off your hands like Lady Macbeth.
11:51When the first section of concrete was poured and had set, the pressure was on.
11:56It kind of started a stopwatch, really, where we had to rush to get everything cast in time
12:02for the bricklayers to come back and install it.
12:05Lemma and Nicole had to race to cast the next piece of concrete
12:09before the bricklayer had finished the previous section of wall.
12:13We had quite a gruelling casting schedule.
12:17We had some days where we were casting and then the next day we'd be leaving them to set
12:22and then taking them out of the moulds, repairing the moulds,
12:26because we tried to reuse as many of them as possible.
12:29And then the cycle would start again, because we ended up doing the casting over winter.
12:35So it obviously got cold, it was very wet,
12:37and there were some days where it got kind of closer to freezing,
12:40so we had to be really looking at whether or not the concrete was set properly, keeping it warm.
12:46Nothing on this project came easily,
12:48just as outside the concrete was painstakingly cast by Lemma and Nicole.
12:53So the kitchen living space inside was also hard won.
12:59All the timber joinery was stained and oiled by them too.
13:05What's more, each piece of it had to be labelled and driven by them
13:09from their workshop in London to Norfolk.
13:12We put 15,000 miles on the clock.
13:15It was a big sacrifice and a big personal effort overall to kind of keep things moving.
13:20So what do Nicole's parents make of it?
13:23The kitchen has been transformed.
13:26I'd be in the kitchen by myself cooking
13:29while they were all doing things in other rooms.
13:34Now people sit round the island or sit at the table.
13:37An audience is important for this.
13:48Lots of people come and see it.
13:50It's one of the first things we show them
13:52because they just all say,
13:53I want the spice straw.
13:56You did all the labelling yourself?
13:58Yes, of course.
13:59Colour-coded.
13:59I was colour-coded into, like, red for hot, European and American.
14:08A colour-coded spice straw lets you know that people here care.
14:13Perhaps a little too much.
14:16This is a house built by passionate obsessives.
14:19A testament to what's possible when you embrace the hard way,
14:23chase the details and go all in on making something extraordinary.
14:29Many of us build our houses not just to please ourselves,
14:37but also the neighbours.
14:39To fit the postcode, to conform to the planning rules.
14:43But what if you didn't?
14:45I mean, what if you built something that quietly threw caution
14:47and convention and the street's colour palette to the wind
14:51and instead used its materials to stand apart
14:55at home with a distinct voice, measured, graceful
15:00and just provocative enough to feature in the neighbourhood WhatsApp group?
15:05That would be something, wouldn't it?
15:06I'm in south-west London to see our next building
15:15that's not afraid to make an entrance.
15:18On a beautiful riverside street like this,
15:22each one of these houses is playing a careful game of one-upmanship.
15:26But these houses politely jostle.
15:33Lower Ham doesn't.
15:35It throws bread rolls.
15:38It's bold, brilliant, and as carefully crafted as a punk's mohawk.
15:43It's a building that's loud, proud, full of poise and attitude.
15:48This extraordinary home has a single-storey extension and a tower.
16:02The single-storey section has a front office,
16:05comfortable guest bedroom and downstairs bathroom.
16:08There's also a spacious open-planned kitchen connecting to a cosy snug.
16:13Beyond this, there are two additional bedrooms,
16:16both open directly onto a serene central courtyard garden.
16:21In the tower, on the ground floor, there is a dining room.
16:24The first floor is home to the main living area,
16:27while the top floor is devoted to a luxurious master bedroom suite.
16:33At the rear of the house is a garden space
16:36complete with a versatile summer house that doubles as an office.
16:41The owner is retired marketing director John.
16:46Walking up the street, this makes an impression.
16:51I mean, it stands out.
16:52It's really quite splendid.
16:54It is somewhat different.
16:56And if I had one pound for everybody that had commented on it,
16:59stopped and photographed it,
17:01I could have paid for the whole house.
17:02This is a fantastic approach.
17:08And what an entrance.
17:13Could we have a moment for this door?
17:16The scale of this, John.
17:18I mean, it's huge.
17:20Yes, it is.
17:21I mean, the material quality here, this is brass, isn't it?
17:24Yes.
17:25Yeah.
17:25That is not something you would normally use on a door.
17:27No.
17:28It's heavy.
17:29It's expensive.
17:30It's something that you would normally use for a door handle or a letterbox.
17:34Yes.
17:34It sets the scene for the whole house.
17:36I think this attention to detail,
17:38you will find goes through the house as a whole.
17:41And that's a tribute to the architects.
17:46Step inside and the loud shapes and extravagant materials on the outside
17:51soften to something more serene.
17:57To have a courtyard garden here is quite something.
18:02The way that this corner just flies around, totally unsupported,
18:06you're performing structural gymnastics.
18:09Yes, and that's not all,
18:10because this door and this glass all around the courtyard opens up
18:16so the kitchen effectively becomes part of the courtyard.
18:20And it's an ideal place for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
18:27So often you go into a house and you've got a corridor and three rooms or whatever.
18:31And I thought it would be very nice to have it where you walk in
18:34and you see different aspects of the house as you walk through it.
18:41If downstairs is about the calm, practical day-to-day,
18:45the tower is where the fun happens,
18:48where guests get to enjoy the house in the first floor living room.
18:53This house is all about the entertaining.
18:56Yes, it is.
18:56And part of entertaining, of course, is theatre.
18:59Exactly.
19:00So you have the kitchen downstairs,
19:02you've got the movement through to the dining lounge,
19:04and then drinks in the lounge upstairs?
19:07Or on a summer's evening, drinks on the terrace where the sun's shining.
19:11And you can have pre-dinner drinks out there or pre-dinner drinks out here.
19:15And post-dinner drinks out there or post-dinner drinks out there.
19:19There seem to be a lot of drinks, John.
19:22Well, there are a lot of corks downstairs.
19:24There are.
19:24Entertaining here isn't an afterthought.
19:30It's the whole point.
19:32Like any star venue, it needs a grand entrance.
19:36Oh.
19:38They are enormous.
19:41So the architect, Ian Crane, gave it one.
19:45It's not even just the height.
19:47I mean, look at the width of these.
19:49I mean, how tall is this?
19:53Well, they're just under six metres high.
19:55Where do you even begin to get a piece of glass that size?
19:58There are only a couple of companies in the UK
20:00that can manufacture glass of this size and scale.
20:03And eventually, we've chose a company who are based in Turkey.
20:06So transporting these bits of glass across Europe
20:08is fraught with danger.
20:10Ultimately, the windows went in just before Christmas,
20:13and it was a bit like today, very windy.
20:15These large pieces of glass going in at a high level
20:18just the day before Christmas.
20:20One small thing on the side of the building,
20:23and then you lose a piece of glass,
20:24you'll be back to square one again.
20:27Mercifully, there were no breakages.
20:30What's really impressive about this house
20:32is the effortless ease with which it guides you around it
20:36from room to room.
20:37It's a place that encourages exploration
20:42and rewards you for doing it.
20:50Most houses are containers for the chaos in our lives,
20:55the stress and the pressure of work.
20:58But this house, well, this is very different.
21:01This steps in, and it intervenes.
21:04From the moment you walk up the grand staircase
21:07to that beautiful brass door,
21:09this house takes over.
21:11The continuous lines of the brickwork guide you through.
21:15There you have options.
21:17Do you travel up to the tower
21:19and admire the views of the river,
21:21or do you dwell in the serenity of this courtyard?
21:25At every single moment,
21:27this house steps in and slows your life down.
21:32And that's a very, very special thing.
21:34We've seen three houses so far
21:38that take you on holiday,
21:40and we have three more to see
21:41before we find out which will win a place
21:43on the shortlist.
21:52Water towers, lighthouses,
21:55old electricity substations,
21:56I mean, these are all building types
21:58which are ripe for conversion
22:00to residential use.
22:02Of course, the time-honored conversion
22:04is that of the humble agricultural barn.
22:08But what if you did a barn conversion
22:11which was minimal,
22:13which stripped out the interior,
22:15took it back to its raw,
22:17powerful, earthy,
22:18barniness?
22:19I mean, that could be amazing, couldn't it?
22:24The only downside I can think of
22:25is that you'd end up living in a barn
22:27like a cow.
22:30I'm in Essex to visit our next long lister.
22:38For a self-built project
22:40in a rural location,
22:42barn conversions make a lot of sense.
22:44First of all,
22:45you have a large open space
22:47that you can cut up as you see fit.
22:49Then the planning process is easier
22:51because there's already a structure there.
22:52And hopefully,
22:54the building itself
22:55will have lots of character
22:57that you can play with.
23:02Though all too often,
23:03that character is the first casualty
23:05of barn conversions
23:06as the inside gets carved up
23:09to create as many rooms as possible.
23:12Not here, though.
23:13Not with this 18th century threshing barn.
23:17This is Jank's barn,
23:19a relic of rural life,
23:21carefully conserved
23:22and elegantly reimagined.
23:26Inside this remarkable old structure,
23:29under the cathedral-like ceiling,
23:31there is a living space,
23:33kitchen area
23:33and dining space.
23:35And on top of a pulpit-like structure
23:37built within is a study.
23:40Off the main space,
23:41there are two separate bedrooms.
23:47It was commissioned
23:48by landscape designer,
23:49Jo.
23:51Hi, Jo.
23:52Hi, Natasha.
23:53Very nice to meet you.
23:54And you too.
23:55How are you?
23:56Very well, thank you.
23:57Thank you.
23:57Oh, look at this place.
23:59It's just so welcoming.
24:01Oh.
24:01It had been used as a barn,
24:06we think,
24:06until the 60s and 70s.
24:08And then my neighbours
24:10who sold the barn to me,
24:12they'd been here for 25 years
24:14and they thought
24:15that they would one day
24:16do the barn themselves,
24:18but they didn't get round to it
24:20and then they decided to sell.
24:21Pass the baton after you.
24:22Pass the baton to me.
24:24Exactly.
24:25And so when I first saw it,
24:26it was full of family stuff.
24:28Oh, goodness.
24:30It was their storeroom,
24:31bicycles,
24:32there was a rowing boat,
24:33chests of drawers,
24:35you name it,
24:35it was in there.
24:39When Joanne enlisted her architect,
24:41the brief was simple.
24:43Retain the barn's character.
24:45Do only what was necessary.
24:47Don't change anything
24:48unless you have to.
24:49The brief for me
24:51was to allow the barn
24:54to retain its agricultural feel.
24:58Is it OK for you to look inside?
24:59Absolutely.
25:00Come in.
25:03Oh, wow.
25:04Look at this.
25:08Step in and you're greeted
25:09by this breathtaking space.
25:11The original barn volume
25:13left intact.
25:15No mezzanines,
25:15no partitions,
25:17no white plasterboard.
25:18The judges were impressed
25:20by the care and conservation
25:22taken by all involved.
25:24I didn't want to put in
25:26a mezzanine floor.
25:28I didn't want to have anything
25:29that would interfere
25:30with the original structure.
25:33I wanted it to be left
25:34in its original huge volume
25:37because this is how it was built
25:40and how it has stayed
25:42for the last 250 years.
25:45So we've kept to the original division
25:48between what were lean-tos
25:50and what was the main threshing barn.
25:55There was a lot of respect
25:57for the historic structure here,
25:59so the new elements
26:00sit entirely apart from it.
26:02We introduced three black objects
26:05into the building.
26:07There's the study platform.
26:13There's the kitchen
26:14and the wood-burning stove.
26:18But none of them touches the wall,
26:21so they're all freestanding.
26:23So the barn almost acts as the gallery
26:26to host these three pieces of sculpture.
26:28Yes, in a way.
26:29I think that the timber frame
26:32is like a work of art.
26:33Absolutely.
26:34And the star of the show
26:35and is respected and loved
26:38and left in its original form.
26:41Well, most of it.
26:43You'd never know at first glance,
26:44but some of this ancient timber
26:45had to be replaced
26:46by the craft and expertise
26:48of one man,
26:49Dr. Joseph Bispham.
26:51I signed my indenture
26:53as a carpenter and joiner
26:54on the 23rd of June 1963.
26:57Oh, goodness.
26:57So I've been doing carpentry and joinery
26:59for quite a long time.
27:02We've lost so much of our history.
27:05And this is, in a way,
27:06fairly unique with Essex
27:07because they're not common,
27:08these field barns.
27:10And there was a time
27:11when it was a scrap it mentality,
27:14so everything would be knocked down.
27:16To repair the barn,
27:18Joseph carefully removes
27:19the rotten parts
27:20and then scarfs in new pieces.
27:24A scarf is an old piece of timber
27:26to a new piece.
27:27So if you look at that,
27:28then that's a scarf.
27:29A good example
27:30is this piece of oak here.
27:33So if that was a post
27:35and we were scarfing in,
27:36then that would be the tenon
27:37to hold on the plate
27:39and that would be
27:40the running scarf
27:41that will go onto
27:42the existing piece of timber.
27:44So this is the replacement.
27:45This is the repair, right?
27:47Because you're looking at something
27:48that's rotted away at the bottom.
27:49So it's about minimal intervention,
27:52but it needs to
27:53stand the test of time.
27:55It's not just new timber
27:57that's scarfed in either.
27:59There you've used
28:00a salvaged piece.
28:01Yeah.
28:02So it's this mix
28:03of old, new, salvaged...
28:05Yes, I mean,
28:06where we could,
28:07we use every piece of timber.
28:09There's no bonfires here.
28:10Nothing, yes.
28:10Nothing, you know.
28:11So even small pieces of timber,
28:13they'll most probably
28:14have a job
28:15before the job is finished.
28:17The architects
28:27were Patrick Lynch
28:28and Rachel Elliot.
28:31There's something about
28:32the presence of old buildings
28:33that, like,
28:34you can just see the notches
28:35and the cuts
28:36and the workmanship
28:37and so there's this
28:38friendly ghost.
28:39It's not alienating,
28:40but it's also a bit uncanny.
28:41The more you look
28:42at historic buildings
28:43and are able to read them,
28:45you know that there were
28:46historic phases
28:47in this building.
28:48We know that the mid-stray
28:49was cut in later.
28:50We know this wall
28:52had to be rebuilt
28:53in the 80s
28:54because there were cattle
28:55in here
28:56and they pushed
28:56the wall over.
28:57I mean,
28:58I find that really interesting
28:59and a great part
29:00of working on historic buildings.
29:04This is conservation,
29:06not by freezing time,
29:07but by working
29:08with what was there.
29:11Repairing it,
29:12honouring how it was made,
29:13and allowing something
29:15new to emerge.
29:17This project
29:18is a careful restoration
29:20that finds beauty
29:21in the craft
29:22of what was once
29:23a purely functional building.
29:25By celebrating the work
29:27that went into making it
29:28and by adding
29:30a few sympathetic additions,
29:32this building
29:33has been given
29:33a new, elegant life
29:35and become
29:36a beautiful home
29:37for Joanne.
29:37There is one British instinct
29:45which is deeply embedded,
29:47it's almost genetic,
29:48and that's the instinct
29:50to avoid making a fuss.
29:52And we queue quietly,
29:53we say sorry
29:55when we open the door
29:56for somebody else,
29:58although we've never apologised
29:59for stealing
29:59the Elgin marbles.
30:01When it comes to design,
30:03of course,
30:03we also like our buildings
30:04to be a little modest,
30:06to be quieter,
30:07polite,
30:08something that
30:08knows its context
30:10and when to keep
30:11its voice down.
30:13But what if,
30:14what if that modesty
30:15was a mask?
30:16What if playing it down
30:18was how you got away
30:19with something
30:20much bigger,
30:21you know?
30:22Well,
30:22it takes is
30:22a little camouflage
30:24to smuggle in a bit
30:26of architectural daring.
30:27Well,
30:30our next longlister
30:32in Wales
30:32has pulled that trick
30:33off rather nicely.
30:36This is
30:37Kreuzwach.
30:39Outside,
30:40you see local
30:41black mountain stone
30:42and a familiar
30:43barn-like form.
30:45Inside,
30:46it's got all the elegance
30:47and architectural drama
30:48of a Danish design gallery.
30:51The RIBA judges
30:52praised how highly crafted
30:54and well-built it was
30:55inside and out.
30:58He wanted to try
31:00to develop something
31:01which is of now,
31:03which is contemporary,
31:04but not in such a way
31:05which is unduly
31:06insensitive
31:06or likely to be
31:08alienating to people.
31:13It fits into the slope
31:15with a raised drive
31:16that curves round
31:17the back of the house.
31:19You enter into
31:19a double-height hallway
31:21with an office
31:22and granny annex
31:23in one direction.
31:25Then along the other corridor,
31:27there are five bedrooms
31:28and a family bathroom
31:29with access to the garden.
31:32Heading upstairs,
31:34there's a TV room
31:35at one end
31:36with a playroom,
31:37toilets and utility rooms
31:39hidden along the back,
31:40all connected by a large kitchen
31:43living diner
31:44that opens onto the view.
31:47It was commissioned
31:48by Fernanda and Ben
31:49who bought the plot
31:50with an existing house
31:51on it,
31:52hoping they might
31:53extend it slightly.
31:54Just making some changes
31:56in the rooms,
31:57making some room bigger,
31:58expanding some areas,
32:00modifying some other ones.
32:02At the same time,
32:03we were also multiplying
32:04the amount of children we had,
32:05so we were quickly realising
32:06we were running out of bedrooms.
32:08So,
32:10they decided to knock it down
32:11and build an upside-down house
32:13that took advantage
32:14of the view,
32:15living space at the top,
32:17bedrooms on the bottom floor.
32:19Perfect if you're small,
32:20quick and prefer to start
32:21your day without
32:22adult supervision.
32:23We sleep on the bottom.
32:27We can open the door
32:28from our room,
32:29so we can just go, like,
32:31to play outside
32:31whenever we want, kind of.
32:33In the morning,
32:34I like to feed the chickens
32:36because that's when they start.
32:38That's when they wake up.
32:40So, I feed the chickens
32:41at that time,
32:42so they start laying eggs.
32:46Then they can head upstairs
32:47where the grown-up
32:49architectural magic happens.
32:53You're not completely
32:54entitled to see the view
32:57until you actually
32:58reach the top of the stairs.
33:00Yeah, a proper bit of theatre
33:01once you get to the top.
33:03It doesn't reveal itself
33:05until the very end.
33:07I kind of like,
33:08wow!
33:11Yes, it is.
33:13A single, open space
33:15wrapped in glass
33:16aimed straight at
33:17the Welsh mountains.
33:19Beautiful.
33:21But where's all the stuff?
33:23I can show you a secret
33:25which is the favourite
33:26of the family
33:27and it's this lather cupboard
33:30which we design
33:31to be able to hide
33:34all the little mess
33:35that we can create
33:36as a family.
33:38And once it's done,
33:39you close your docks back again
33:41which are very easy
33:42and then it'll all get hidden away.
33:46They've gone a step further than that.
33:50They've built a 15-metre wall
33:52in walnut
33:53to hide entire rooms.
33:55All the messy stuff
33:57off the back
33:58of the main living area.
33:59So things like the playroom,
34:01the water closet,
34:02the utility area,
34:03all of that's hidden away
34:05behind this main wall.
34:06This is a house
34:10that makes the best
34:11of its setting
34:12with materials
34:13that help make it feel
34:15part of this magical place.
34:18We always say
34:19how lucky we are.
34:20You can't get bored
34:21so it's just nice.
34:23We've seen five
34:29beautifully crafted homes
34:31so far.
34:32One more to go
34:33before we find out
34:34which have been shortlisted.
34:49I'm off to Suffolk
34:50to visit our next house
34:52on the long list
34:53by a master architect
34:54and craftsman
34:55and I've got a personal reason
34:57for visiting this one.
34:59Just down here
35:00there's a house
35:01by an architect
35:02who I have long admired,
35:05James Gorst.
35:08So it's with a little trepidation
35:10that I approach
35:11because I'm not expecting
35:14to be disappointed.
35:17I don't want to be disappointed.
35:19At the edge of a village here
35:23where thatch and brick
35:24meet field and shed
35:25sits something unexpected.
35:28Okay, here we are.
35:31Not a cottage,
35:32not a barn,
35:34but something else.
35:35I'm not sure I've come
35:40to the right building.
35:41I mean, this is just a wall
35:42and a garage.
35:48Although,
35:48the garage is
35:50beautifully detailed
35:52with a double roof
35:54and a chain pipe
35:56and a Douglas fur cladding
35:58and the wall,
36:00the wall is L-shaped
36:01and it is
36:02monumental.
36:08This is a mento.
36:11Four timber pavilions
36:12stitched together
36:14by thick brick walls
36:15as if they predate
36:17the buildings
36:18that lean against them.
36:20The Douglas fur interiors
36:22are crafted
36:22with the precision
36:23of a cabinet maker.
36:24Every joint,
36:26every line
36:26and surface
36:27calmly exact.
36:34The house
36:35is split
36:36into quadrants.
36:40One has the entrance hall
36:42with boot room
36:43and garage.
36:45The second quadrant
36:46has a snug
36:47and master bedroom.
36:50The third
36:51contains two bedrooms
36:52and a bathroom.
36:54And the fourth
36:55has the living
36:56and dining area
36:57with a kitchen.
37:01Hi.
37:02Hello.
37:02Hello, sorry,
37:03I let myself in.
37:04Its owners
37:04are Liz and Peter.
37:06Very nice to meet you.
37:07And you, Liz.
37:08Yeah?
37:09Yes.
37:09Peter.
37:09Peter, how are you?
37:11I'm still trying
37:11to figure out
37:12the plan of it
37:12because it's got,
37:14it looks like a shed
37:15next to a great big wall.
37:17Is that right?
37:17Well, it's actually
37:18three walls.
37:19It's a broken cruciform.
37:20So there were
37:21a series of sheds here
37:23that were run down
37:24and neglected
37:25for probably decades.
37:27And James Gorst
37:29was quick to pick up on that.
37:30See, anybody else
37:31would just say,
37:32I'll just do you
37:32a bunch of sheds.
37:33What James does is say,
37:34I'm going to do you
37:34a bunch of sheds
37:35on steroids
37:35with this great big
37:36monumental wall
37:37slicing through.
37:38So what was your brief?
37:40Low maintenance,
37:41easy to clean.
37:42Calm.
37:43Single level living.
37:45We didn't want to use
37:46the B word,
37:46which was bungalow.
37:48But you might have
37:48used the B plural word,
37:50which is bungalows.
37:51That's much more attractive.
37:52Probably bungalows.
37:56The RIBA judges
37:58praised the confidence
37:59and craft in the building,
38:01noting particularly
38:02the sharpness
38:03of the brickwork.
38:04Two brothers
38:05built the walls.
38:07They did it themselves,
38:0840,000 bricks.
38:09They're beautifully done.
38:10And same with our joiner.
38:12But when you look
38:12at the work,
38:13you could see
38:13that there was enjoyment
38:14in putting this house up.
38:16You could see it expressed
38:17in the craftsmanship.
38:22Inside,
38:23you walk along
38:24one of the great
38:25spine brick walls
38:26into the kitchen
38:27quarter of the house.
38:30So kitchen is then
38:31incorporated
38:32into the rest of the building.
38:33This is one large volume.
38:35And a giant celebration
38:36of one material,
38:38Douglas fir wood.
38:41Everything in,
38:42the kitchen
38:42in Douglas fir.
38:44You've got
38:44Douglas fir cutlery.
38:46How far does it extend?
38:50We wanted to use
38:51the same material
38:53throughout
38:53to create
38:54an overall
38:56very calm palette.
38:58And so as you look through,
38:59everything
38:59is just seamless.
39:02There's mullions,
39:03there's big posts.
39:04Ah,
39:04magnificent.
39:05They take
39:06the rhythms
39:07of the ceiling
39:07and they carry them
39:09into the floor.
39:10And wherever it's used,
39:11it's sort of,
39:12it's giving you a hug.
39:14And it's a huggable material.
39:18Even the brick
39:19feels softer here somehow.
39:23Outside,
39:23it looks like
39:24it's slicing the house
39:25into four neat chunks.
39:27But inside,
39:29you realize
39:29the walls
39:30don't divide.
39:32They invite you through.
39:33And what's through here?
39:36Through the,
39:36oh,
39:36Douglas fir door.
39:38A burst of color.
39:40Oh,
39:40so there is.
39:42The wall
39:43sharply separates
39:44the pale colors
39:45of the wood and brick
39:46from an ocean of blue.
39:49I'm beginning to see
39:50the walls
39:50as quite kind of
39:51powerful presences.
39:52When the kids,
39:53they're young adults now.
39:55When they come home,
39:56this is their private space.
39:58Yeah.
39:58What's very nice
39:59is that
40:00it does feel very adult.
40:01So it's not like
40:02returning to their
40:03old bedrooms
40:04in a family home
40:05with the posters
40:05on the wall
40:06and they feel like
40:07they're regressing
40:07every time they come home.
40:11Part of the idea
40:12for the house
40:13came from the sheds
40:14that were here before.
40:15The rest came from
40:17the mind of its designer,
40:18James Gorst.
40:19The little fantasy
40:21I had in my head
40:22was that
40:22these walls
40:23represented the work
40:24of some previous
40:25civilization.
40:28And at a later date,
40:29people came along
40:29and thought,
40:30we can have
40:30these four quadrants
40:32and make them useful.
40:33And so these
40:34much more
40:35human scale
40:36mono pitches
40:37were fitted around.
40:41Although the business
40:42of actually building
40:43his vision
40:44was nerve wracking.
40:46When the house
40:46first went up,
40:47I had that terrible
40:49sinking feeling
40:49when you think
40:50you've just got
40:51something really wrong.
40:53When you came here
40:54and saw these
40:55expletive deleted walls,
40:58it just looked so massive
40:59and gaunt.
41:00And I did think,
41:01what the hell
41:02have I done here?
41:04But it's okay now.
41:06And that's the nature
41:07of architecture.
41:08You know,
41:08often you are being
41:09a bit brave with scale
41:10and initially
41:11it can be a bit
41:11concerning.
41:14Who dares wins.
41:16It's always a worry
41:17meeting your heroes,
41:19but Amento
41:20does not disappoint.
41:22You can use brick
41:23and timber
41:24to do a job,
41:25hold up a roof,
41:27clad a wall.
41:28But as the architect
41:28Louis Kahn said,
41:30even a brick
41:31wants to be
41:32something more.
41:35It takes a real
41:37master of their craft,
41:39somebody like
41:40James Gorst,
41:42to take these materials
41:44and make them sing.
41:47I mean,
41:47really sing.
41:48To write a song
41:49for them
41:50which speaks
41:51of their hopes
41:54and their memories.
41:59We've explored
42:00six remarkable homes,
42:02but which will
42:03make the shortlist?
42:07Mill Hyde,
42:08brutal corten
42:09on the outside,
42:10butter-smooth
42:11limestone within.
42:15Cast Corbel House,
42:17a suburban semi
42:18with big ambitions,
42:19a brick-built piece
42:21of architectural chutzpah.
42:25Lower Ham,
42:26part riverside folly,
42:28part Tuscan daydream.
42:30There's a brass front door,
42:31a tower,
42:32and just enough restraint
42:33to stop it becoming
42:34a bond set.
42:37Jank's barn,
42:39the glorious timber-framed relic
42:41brought back from the brink.
42:43Creuswach,
42:45a Welsh farmhouse
42:46for the 21st century
42:47that hugs the hillside
42:49and embraces the view.
42:52And a mento,
42:53so minimal
42:55it's practically monastic.
42:58Just air,
42:59lights,
42:59and the quiet confidence
43:01of a building
43:01that's reached enlightenment.
43:03On the jury
43:07is Livia Wang.
43:09So how many projects
43:11from this category
43:11have you shortlisted?
43:12Two.
43:13Two.
43:14What's your first?
43:15A mento.
43:15A mento.
43:16There was so much potential
43:18for these two different types
43:19of material languages
43:20in terms of how they meet,
43:22but also what the gardens
43:23were doing
43:24in each section
43:25of the site
43:26that had just been divided up.
43:27How successful
43:28do you think it was
43:29for its rigour
43:30and thoroughness?
43:31I mean,
43:31I think the thing
43:32that's really successful
43:33about this building
43:34is the use of materials
43:36and how finely
43:37it's all been detailed.
43:38Yeah.
43:39That's wonderful news.
43:41We are early, of course.
43:42Gosh, that's really,
43:43oh, that's really good.
43:44Very, very pleased
43:45to hear that.
43:46So you've got a second project
43:47you've shortlisted
43:48in this category.
43:49What is it?
43:49Jank's barn.
43:51Right.
43:52That's surprising for me
43:54because it's a very,
43:55very historical building.
43:57So much of it
43:58is about conservation.
43:59Oh, but the way
44:00they did it,
44:01every single beam,
44:03every single little purlin,
44:04even the little pieces
44:06of wood holding it
44:07all together
44:07were just cared for
44:08so well.
44:11It's an essay
44:12in loving the original barn,
44:14and that's not what
44:15every single conservation
44:16project is about.
44:17This is not a bog-standard
44:18barn conversion.
44:19This is one that really
44:20makes you think
44:21everyone knows
44:22every single piece of wood.
44:24That's great.
44:28Absolutely thrilled.
44:30So,
44:32Jank's barn
44:32and Amento
44:33take their place
44:34on the shortlist,
44:35alongside
44:36Hastings House,
44:38Kirk and the Crake,
44:40and Triangle House.
44:43We have just
44:44two more places
44:45on the shortlist
44:46before we find out
44:47who will be crowned
44:49House of the Year
44:502025.
44:52Good homes,
44:53and I mean
44:54really good homes.
44:56They don't try
44:57to be anything.
44:58They're not.
44:58They're quietly confident,
45:01singular,
45:02unmistakably themselves.
45:04Judy Garland said,
45:05be a first-rate version
45:06of yourself
45:07and never
45:08a second-rate version
45:09of somebody else.
45:11That's what
45:11these homes do.
45:13They follow no template.
45:14They chase no trend.
45:16They're built with
45:16courage and conviction
45:18and they are pure expressions
45:20of the people
45:20who dared to imagine them
45:22and the people
45:24then who made them real.
45:26And that, to me,
45:27that is
45:28an absolute mark of beauty.
45:30Next time,
45:33we'll explore houses
45:35which are
45:36extraordinary transformations.
45:38It's so lush.
45:40Six more homes
45:41that challenge
45:42the way we live.
45:43Oh, my word,
45:45it's stunning.
45:46And we'll discover
45:48the RIBA
45:49House of the Year winner.
45:51This project's
45:52just been ambitious
45:53on so many levels.
45:54And we'll see you next time.
46:24Thank you.
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