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Short filmTranscript
00:00Hello, and here's the weather.
00:02For today's forecast, expect scattered flashes of design brilliance
00:06with prolonged periods of architectural showmanship.
00:09There's a strong chance of concrete at ground level,
00:12timber cladding moving eastwards and intermittent glimpses of polished terrazzo.
00:17Light will play a key role, occasionally dappled, frequently dramatic
00:21and sometimes rather boldly emerging from beneath the stairs.
00:26Temperatures are set to rise in kitchens with underfloor heating,
00:29particularly where there's a hidden wine fridge.
00:32Wind resistance may be tested in houses built on stilts.
00:36And viewers are advised to take shelter immediately if anyone talks about flow.
00:42Welcome to House of the Year.
00:45The competition is hotting up for the Royal Institute of British Architects' House of the Year
00:51as we welcome the last batch of long-listed homes.
00:56That's clever. Oh, heavens.
00:58The pressure's building, and the competition is fiercer than ever for a place on the shortlist.
01:03Oh, this is really, really good.
01:06From houses that were built whilst under attack from midges...
01:10We had to hide in a caravan for an afternoon.
01:12Three grown men hiding in a caravan.
01:16To homes that were built to the strictest of tolerances...
01:20Tim is known as Millimetre Tim in the business round.
01:23The houses we explore will be whittled down to a shortlist of just seven.
01:29I mean, what the heck?
01:31At the end, we'll discover which will be House of the Year 2025.
01:37So get ready.
01:38Grease all nipples and lubricate all joints.
01:41So far, five homes have claimed their place on the shortlist.
02:07Kirk and the Craig on the Isle of Harris.
02:11Hastings House, a triumph of engineering and elegance.
02:15And Triangle House, a house that takes you to the Caribbean.
02:19Then there's a Mento, a carefully crafted cruciform family home.
02:24And Jank's Barn, a barn conversion that keeps its character.
02:29There are two places left on the shortlist and five more buildings to explore.
02:37Snooping around these homes with me is the architect Damien Burrows.
02:42To have a courtyard garden here is quite something.
02:47And the conservation architect, Natasha Huck.
02:51Oh, wow, look at this.
02:52Some houses are born beautiful.
02:57Some acquire beauty.
02:59Others have beauty thrust upon them.
03:01Usually by an architect with a bold vision and a host of power tools.
03:05This category is all about transformation.
03:08And not the kind that involves a new doormat and a pharaoh and bull tester bot.
03:13These are epic, drafty bungalows, weary barns, structures long past their prime.
03:20Reimagined, reconfigured and re-emerged as architectural swans.
03:26They've been wrapped in zinc, filled with light, given poetry, purpose and soul.
03:31Oh, it's so stirring.
03:33I'm beginning to feel it'll transform myself.
03:35I might start wearing linen.
03:37Barth is experiencing a transformation of its own.
03:44You come here for Georgian grandeur, creamy stone and the odd bit of Regency cosplay.
03:50You don't come here for bungalows.
03:55But maybe you should.
03:58This is a house of wood shingle.
04:01A bungalow utterly transformed with a new skin of timber.
04:05Thousands of pieces of it.
04:12Hi.
04:13Hi.
04:13Good to meet you.
04:14Hi.
04:15The owners are Celia and Keith.
04:17Excellent place to be living.
04:20It's sort of becolic and befits a wooden house, I suppose.
04:24You've got a little shingle wooden house in the woods.
04:26Yeah.
04:28It used to be a 1960s kind of low-energy bungalow.
04:34As we said, low-energy has been really poor.
04:36Poor energy.
04:37Poor, yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:38Yeah.
04:39And then we wanted to kind of upgrade it, retrofit it, so that we could put in some sustainable
04:45heating elements.
04:46Yeah.
04:47And then the shingle came along as a kind of cladding to cover all the insulation.
04:52But it looks beautiful.
04:53It is beautiful.
04:53It looks beautiful.
04:54Because they're coarsed.
04:55Yeah.
04:56They're not, you know, dropping and rising.
04:58So they're coarsed.
04:59Yeah.
05:00And, of course, they're overlapped so that the joints are always staggered.
05:04Yeah.
05:04If we did it again on a bungalow, I think it's not the place to do the cedar shingle because
05:10it's such a vast kind of amount of square meterage.
05:13Yeah.
05:14But it is beautiful.
05:15And from a drone shot, it looks great.
05:18When you're working with an architect, you're quite often taking a sort of godlike view of
05:24it.
05:24So you're seeing 3D models and you're looking and you're kind of seeing a building in a
05:29way that you never really truly see.
05:32Yeah.
05:32You go around to someone's house and knock on the door and they say, come in, would you
05:35like the tour?
05:35And you, no, not really.
05:37Actually, now I've just come to see you.
05:39Yeah.
05:40But when people come here, you should just say, would you like to see the roof?
05:43Yeah.
05:43We've got a ladder here.
05:45We've got a ladder, yeah.
05:45Get up there.
05:46It's a hidden asset, isn't it?
05:48A hidden beauty, a hidden gem.
05:49Hidden mummy pit.
05:51Yeah, OK.
05:55More like an investment, I'd say.
06:00Along the back of the house are the three children's rooms and parents' bedroom suite.
06:05All connected by a vaulted corridor with skylights that leads to the new entrance hall.
06:12At the near end of the front half is the glass-walled kitchen diner.
06:16Next to that is a TV room.
06:19And at the far end is the living room with views across the valley.
06:23Inside, this place does not feel like a conventional bungalow, compartmentalised and closed off.
06:35No, instead, you can see down the length of the building.
06:39It feels connected and open.
06:43It's really neat.
06:45Really neat.
06:45Celia and Keith's architect has pulled off a clever trick, too, in the way he's divided up the house.
06:53So this entire depth, this is social space.
06:59Yeah.
06:59Yes.
06:59And then all the rooms behind this are all the cellular bedrooms.
07:04Yeah.
07:04The living and sleeping spaces are separated by a corridor that divides the building into two.
07:13We can kind of close it off so that this space is completely separate from the rooms at the back.
07:18Yeah.
07:19It's almost like the back part of the house is what would traditionally be like the upstairs of the building.
07:25And then this front part is like the downstairs.
07:28So we continue that separation, even though it's all on one level.
07:34Walking through the kitchen and down to the sunken living room, your perspective suddenly shifts.
07:40Oh, yes, down some steps.
07:44Oh, so the whole thing kind of expands.
07:47It lifts as you walk into it.
07:50Oh.
07:50It's like two or three and a half metres or something, that sheet of glass.
07:53So you step down into a sort of skyey observatory, really.
07:58Yeah.
07:59Which is actually kind of almost exactly split across the middle so the horizon cuts halfway across those windows.
08:07Oh, and these clouds suddenly appear to be more powerful because you're framing this kind of great skyscape.
08:17What I love about this place is the variety of experiences that it offers.
08:21No two rooms in here are the same.
08:25From 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.
08:37And then into this.
08:38Oh, my Lord.
08:39This is the first bungalow I've ever seen that has a sort of ecclesiastical corridor with little cellular rooms off.
08:47It's like being in a monastery with these fantastic clear story lights that just grab sunshine, pull it into the building.
08:59I don't know why I'm whispering.
09:07Forgive me, bungalow, for I have stared.
09:10But beauty like this doesn't come easy.
09:13The process of making it can floor you.
09:16It was a long process.
09:20Yeah.
09:21And getting materials to the side.
09:22I mean, just the logistics of being here.
09:24That was tough.
09:25And I think we had, you know, quite a few phone calls.
09:27Because a private drive sounds like a nice idea.
09:30Yeah.
09:30Until you kind of realise that you can't get a big truck or lorry down the drive and they've left everything on a pallet half a mile away.
09:39Yeah.
09:40Or just refuse to deliver stuff.
09:42So 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.
09:53They've gone to a lot of trouble reinterpreting this bungalow.
09:59This underrated building form.
10:02Now reimagined is once again taking its place in the spotlight.
10:07I suppose we think of bungalows as being background buildings, don't we?
10:12You know, part of the supporting cast of the theater of architecture that makes our cities and our towns.
10:21But what this place demonstrates is you can take an individual from that supporting cast.
10:28You can believe in them, remodel them, reclothe them.
10:32You can give them a script that works for them and you can transform them.
10:37Into a glamorous, eloquent, witty centre stage star.
10:52We've seen one shape-shifting home so far.
10:55Four more to see before we find out which will be shortlisted for the House of the Year 2025.
11:01The next longlister we're visiting in our incredible transformations category is in Suffolk.
11:19I'm off to see it.
11:22It's an exciting new set of buildings that transforms not something that was already there, but the very way we could build our homes.
11:31Most homes squeeze all of their functions underneath one single roof.
11:39But I'm off to see a home that transforms that very idea.
11:43Four different buildings, four separate functions, and one family.
11:49Welcome to House Stead.
11:51House Stead is four buildings arranged around a cross shape in a central courtyard.
12:08To the south is a glazed thatch living pavilion with a kitchen dining area, a lounge, and bathroom.
12:14To the west is a solid brick working block containing a main bedroom with en-suite and office above.
12:21To the east is the sleeping block with five children's bedrooms and a guest bedroom.
12:27There is also a greenhouse structure to the front which acts as a winter garden.
12:32The corrugated metal north building is the utility block with a boiler room, garage, general store, and upper-level hangout.
12:41The owners are architect, husband, and wife, Amir and Abigail.
12:46All of the elements of the building are so far apart.
12:49What was the idea behind that?
12:51One's a living function, one's a sleeping function, one's utility, and one's work and study studio.
12:58It's really to sort of create four distinct zones where you have to go outside, experience the outdoors, between the different functions.
13:06It wouldn't suit everybody, but I think if you enjoy being outdoors, you want a way of keeping a large family together as families develop.
13:17I think for us it's working brilliantly.
13:22As the children grow older, they can have their own space and come together with the adults here.
13:27This is the living block where the family can eat, chat, and socialize.
13:33It's part sitting room, part kitchen, part dining space, with a mezzanine floating above, all gloriously open plan.
13:44Oh, hello.
13:46This is, oh my word, it's stunning.
13:49The thatched roof seems to float on improbably thin steel columns.
13:56We wanted everything to be as light as possible so it's not detracting from the view.
13:59Nothing is bigger than it needs to be, so, you know, it's been finely engineered.
14:04Steel could have felt like a cold industrial material to use here, but it doesn't, thanks to the clever colour choice, Suffolk Pink, a colour used on buildings in the area.
14:16The Suffolk Pink came from the fact that they used pig's blood to become the sort of binding material.
14:24In a lime wash, so, you know, you mix protein and lime and it reacts and it creates the Suffolk Pink.
14:30So this is dragging Suffolk Pink into the 21st century.
14:33This is giving you a bit of oomph.
14:35Exactly.
14:35And it's the last thing people expect when they walk in here.
14:39Yes.
14:40This is a gorgeous pig.
14:40This is a gorgeous pig.
14:45Then, outside to another extraordinary building in this 21st century house stead.
14:52So we've come from a traditional thatched roof to lunar space module.
14:58You called it a lunar module landing and the way it was constructed really was very lunar-like.
15:04It was built in the area where we put the cars, assembled and then raised by a crane and very lightly popped onto the roof, bolted down.
15:13In one section?
15:14The whole thing was built, bar the staircase, in the whole thing was built, raised up and popped down.
15:19It was great fun watching it go up.
15:21You have people reporting it, like there's a spacecraft landing next door.
15:25It was a giant step for Suffolk.
15:28It's very much a lookout.
15:30It's very much a place for us to get away from everything else, but also our studio.
15:34And it's quite high up.
15:36Not quite 33 steps, but it's 31 steps.
15:39It's a very nice journey and you actually feel that you're just getting away from everything.
15:42You can go up there and just escape.
15:44Pick up a book, finish off a project.
15:47Curiouser and curiouser.
15:49From a space oddity to a greenhouse built into a bedroom wing.
15:53Nothing conventional about that either.
15:58This is a thermal camera and it's a great way of showing exactly where the heat is in a house.
16:05Now in a normal home, you'd expect to see hot spots around the radiators and chimney flues.
16:10But if we take a look down here...
16:13Wow.
16:14It's off the charts hot.
16:16By design, incredibly.
16:18This glazed corridor helps heat the hot water for the whole house.
16:23So we've got a sort of glazed corridor that is designed to get very hot during the day
16:29and helps provide us with all our hot water.
16:32So you've got all this hot air here.
16:35It's rising up through there, passing over the copper pipes and just heating up your hot water.
16:40Heating up the hot water.
16:41Meanwhile, the bedrooms behind remain really beautifully cool.
16:44Yeah, the temperature difference.
16:46You can really feel it, can't you?
16:48Yeah.
16:48You're in a greenhouse.
16:49I am.
16:50Oh, as soon as you come through here.
16:54As soon as you just react really cool.
16:56Just calm.
16:57It's really cool and calm.
16:59The transition between the cool, the hot and outside into the fresh in such a short distance of time.
17:06It's quite something.
17:07That's thanks to the thick timber walls between the greenhouse and the bedrooms which contain the heat.
17:14Ingenious engineering, thoughtful design and a love of innovation are all things to be admired about this house.
17:21Like all good things though, Amir and Abigail had to wait for it.
17:26We didn't finish, we didn't arrive when it had finished because we first moved in when the building had power but no lighting.
17:35So we camped, we camped for quite a long time and we rigged up lights and because we wanted to be here, we moved in at the very first opportunity.
17:45So it's been very much an adventure really.
17:48The children have been very patient.
17:52But now, now it feels like it's properly finished.
17:55There's this thing called Suffolk Time that we didn't know about, but we kind of managed to work with it and it's, sorry, it's very different to London Time.
18:05Well, Suffolk Time is, you know, you know, things happen when they happen often.
18:10Not necessarily that we'd be aware that they're going to happen when they happen, but they do happen.
18:15They happen to a very good standard.
18:16I'll say this is a family home for the 21st century where children and adults each have their own space.
18:28Whether it's the utility block with its games room above or the private bedroom wings where everyone can retreat when they need to.
18:36And then, when they're ready, they gather to cook, to eat, to live together.
18:42The watchtower, the thatched glazed pavilion, the Nissen hut.
18:51Individually, these are striking, odd, even a little eccentric.
18:57But together, they form something that is unique and compelling.
19:01They form architecture that is bold, inventive, and entirely personal.
19:11We've seen two remarkable transformations so far.
19:15Three more to go before we find out which will be shortlisted for the House of the Year 2025.
19:20Some things just seem understated.
19:32A navy blue vauxhall, a pair of traditional brogues.
19:37Jeff from the parish council.
19:39And then, then you look closer and you discover that Jeff is actually a belly dancer
19:44and that the brogues are handmade in Florence
19:46and that the vauxhall does 0-60 in Lesson 5.
19:55Think of our next longlister as Jeff.
19:58It's in the quiet rolling hills of Somerset.
20:01It used to look like this.
20:04Before it was knocked down and was reborn as this.
20:12Definitely an upgrade.
20:15This is the orchards.
20:16The house is mostly single-story, stepping down gently with the landscape.
20:24You enter into a wide hallway, the heart of the home,
20:27which leads one way to the public spaces and the other to the private wing.
20:32In the public area, there's an open-plan kitchen, dining, and living space,
20:36which opens onto a veranda.
20:37A flexible room nearby serves as a playroom, gym, or guest space.
20:43In the private wing, there are two children's bedrooms,
20:47a family bathroom, and a main bedroom suite at the far end.
20:50There's also a small upper-level guest room.
20:53It's home to Jonathan and Kirstie.
20:56Hi.
20:57Hi.
20:57Kirstie, right?
20:58Yes.
20:59Hi.
20:59Hi.
20:59Nice to meet you.
21:00And you too, Jonathan.
21:01Jonathan.
21:03This building catches you off guard, and that's entirely the point.
21:08Sometimes buildings are really loud, and, you know, they assert themselves,
21:12and this one does the opposite.
21:14Right up until the moment, you sort of get to there.
21:17It's a low-key entrance, and I think that fits us.
21:20We're sort of flashy on the inside, people.
21:26You walk into a beautiful open-plan kitchen.
21:30The RIBA judges admired the restrained material palette
21:34and touches of luxury inside a home that was respectful to its rural setting.
21:40It's really nice, isn't it?
21:42And they've taken special measures to keep it that way,
21:45to defend it from the ravages of children.
21:49What is that kitchen tabletop made from?
21:51Is that stainless steel?
21:53Yeah.
21:53Yes, it's stainless steel.
21:54Giant piece.
21:55Four, five millimeters thick.
21:57How did that materialize?
21:59This was your one.
22:00I think one of our themes throughout the whole house was,
22:03it's got to be robust.
22:05Yeah.
22:05If it looks perfect on day one, but gets beaten up by family life,
22:09it just won't work for us.
22:10And you've got another one over there,
22:11which is just as reflective and beautiful, and that's hugely long.
22:14Is that one piece of steel?
22:16It is one giant piece.
22:17One single piece of steel.
22:18I don't think we knew it when we set out to make it,
22:21but there's only one place in the country
22:23who could cope with a piece of steel that I love.
22:27But this room isn't just built to be durable.
22:30It hides a few playful secrets.
22:33Is that a door, that thing, that great big piece of wall?
22:36It is. One of our few kid-free spaces.
22:38So the little one didn't realize this was an actual room
22:44for, what, four or five months of being here,
22:46because we kept that door closed.
22:48And then it blew her little mind one day
22:49when her brother had left it open,
22:51and she discovered this whole extra space.
22:52How she is going to grow up is such a complex,
22:55about deprivation, about being the junior,
22:57excluded member of the family.
22:59Or the joy of what's behind the door.
23:02Or that, yeah.
23:02Or she'll just love surprises, yeah.
23:04In this house, no room is quite what you think it is.
23:10One stayed hidden for months behind a barely noticed door.
23:14And the corridor turns out it's doing far more
23:17than getting you from A to B.
23:20So this is the corridor stroke street?
23:23Yes.
23:24Sort of public highway.
23:27It's almost become an extra room.
23:28It's where kids come out of the bathroom,
23:30we get them dry, dry hair, brush teeth,
23:33spend, yeah, a lot of time in this as a space.
23:36You've got a place where they can easily come out
23:39and put on plays and have a chat and create a den and...
23:43And I read somewhere that every house should have
23:46at least one space big enough to get a toddler up to full speed.
23:49Yeah.
23:50Those bits in between,
23:52the not-quite-a-room liminal spaces,
23:55are what I find most interesting about this house.
23:58These are the bits that quietly steal the show.
24:01We love to have labels for rooms,
24:04and the moment it hasn't got a label,
24:05the moment it's ambiguous,
24:07we worry that it's wasteful.
24:09It's been a surprise, but yeah,
24:11we really live in those in-between spaces.
24:15The rooms themselves aren't too shabby either.
24:19Full of personality and fun.
24:21That was important to the architect, Graham Bisley.
24:24Each room has a different character by what you see outside.
24:29That bathroom's almost like a little chapel.
24:31You kind of go in and the timber screen as you go in
24:33is a cross-shape and you go through
24:35and there's this little side chapel, which is the shower.
24:38Everyday experience should be pleasurable.
24:40Yeah.
24:41It's not just a functional thing,
24:42walking out of your room and going for breakfast or whatever.
24:44You can have an experience on that journey.
24:47This is a house that is thoughtful and full of surprise.
24:55It's calm but never dull.
24:58Every corner has been considered.
25:01Every detail earns its place.
25:06And the result is silently special.
25:09A home that works
25:10and one that keeps getting better the longer you spend time here.
25:14This is a quiet house.
25:19You know, it has its cholera
25:20and its eyes to the ground
25:23as it slowly slips its way
25:25through the grasses in the orchard.
25:29But, you know, it may be quiet
25:31but it is also resilient
25:34and it's playful
25:35and it is strong
25:40and in places also ambiguous.
25:42I mean, it works a magic.
25:43And I'm sure that if I spent time here
25:45in its company
25:46my blood pressure would lower
25:49and I would perhaps be more at peace with myself
25:52and even perhaps a little happier.
25:56Which makes it
25:57a really transformative building.
26:01Oh, you know you turn up at a party
26:10and somebody's just looking fantastic
26:13and you think, what is it?
26:15Is it their hair?
26:16They've got new glasses?
26:17They've been to the dentist?
26:18What is it?
26:19And then you realise
26:21they sort of just know what they're doing.
26:23It's just a gentle, all-over, even lift.
26:26Right, this next place.
26:30I'm in London looking at our next long lister.
26:38This is a house that's been transformed
26:41but rather than being turned
26:43into something completely new
26:44it's been redefined
26:46as a sophisticated version of itself.
26:48This was an unremarkable 1960s terraced house
26:54now crafted into a piece
26:57of iconic-looking 1960s modernist architecture.
27:02The judges were awestruck
27:03by the fact it retained the character
27:05of the original building
27:06yet was completely remade.
27:09In this masterfully reworked home
27:12the ground floor is a spacious
27:14double-height kitchen dining room
27:15with the utility room and toilet next to it.
27:20On the first floor is a living room
27:22with outside balcony and a cosy snug.
27:25On the second floor are the two children's bedrooms
27:28and a bathroom.
27:30And on the third floor
27:31is the adult's bedroom with ensuite.
27:38The architect who realised this extraordinary vision
27:41was Dingle Price.
27:43Hi, Dingle.
27:43Hi, welcome.
27:44Thanks, how are you?
27:45Well, you?
27:46You arrive into a small corridor.
27:49Above are stairs
27:50up to a living room and balcony,
27:52bedroom and bathroom.
27:54But the real magic
27:55is at ground floor level.
27:57It's so lush.
27:59The view teasingly opens out
28:01over the kitchen and dining room
28:03to an incredible garden beyond.
28:06What was here before?
28:08There was a kitchen on the left side
28:10and on the right
28:10there was a dining area
28:12and, of course, it was all at the same level.
28:17It began as a bog-standard 1960s house.
28:20Now, Dingle has remade it
28:21in the language of brutalism,
28:23the cutting edge of high-end design
28:25in the 60s,
28:27when exposed concrete
28:28and bold form
28:29were the height
28:29of architectural fashion.
28:31A lot of the concrete in the building
28:33is exposing beams
28:35that were already there
28:36but were uncovered.
28:37But then we've also introduced
28:39a certain amount of new concrete.
28:42It's only when you get to ground level
28:44you can fully appreciate
28:45this extraordinary room.
28:48There's so much drama to this space.
28:50I mean, the height of the ceilings
28:52and then this view out to this lush garden.
28:55I mean, it's really unexpected.
28:57What did you have to do to create it?
28:58Well, the key to it
28:59is the excavation.
29:00There was a Victorian building
29:01that stood on this site.
29:03Oh, the building
29:04before the 1960s building?
29:06It just turned out
29:07that the original building
29:08had very, very deep foundations
29:09and that meant relatively easily
29:12we could dig away the earth
29:14to create this high space.
29:15So we've excavated a metre and a half
29:17down from the original
29:18ground floor level.
29:21But from then on,
29:22Dingle had set himself
29:23an incredibly hard task
29:25by choosing to keep everything exposed.
29:28It's a project with no paint.
29:30Everything is the exposed materials
29:32which goes back
29:33to this sort of original idea
29:35of brutalism.
29:36But because of that,
29:38you know, it's very unforgiving.
29:39If you put a light switch
29:40in the wrong place,
29:41you can't just move it
29:43and repaint.
29:45You end up basically
29:46having to replaster the whole wall.
29:49There was nowhere to hide mistakes.
29:51No layer that could cover them up.
29:53Not the usual way of doing things.
29:55The contractor wasn't convinced
29:57to begin with.
29:59If I'm honest,
30:01we actually thought Dingle
30:02was going mad.
30:03Everything was experimental.
30:05It was definitely a challenge
30:06and it's not the way
30:07we usually do our projects
30:08because, you know,
30:10it costs a lot more money
30:11to experiment.
30:12I guess the most difficult
30:14for us was
30:16when we stripped the structure
30:18back to its original
30:19block work
30:20and brick work.
30:21We couldn't see the vision.
30:25But who could argue
30:26with the elegance
30:27of the end result?
30:30Though what looks effortless now
30:31took days of trial and error
30:32that tested the limits
30:34of everyone involved.
30:36It's the level of craft,
30:37care and control here
30:38that makes this retrofit
30:40so quietly radical.
30:41Everything about this house
30:46challenges what we would
30:47normally expect
30:48from a 1960s infill,
30:50from brutalist materials
30:51and from a retrofit.
30:53Instead of clearing
30:54everything away,
30:55the architect has made
30:56subtle adjustments
30:57to what was here,
30:58completely transforming
30:59the space
31:00and really making the most
31:01of the character
31:02of the existing house.
31:03We've seen four houses
31:06so far,
31:07transformed beautifully
31:09in different ways.
31:10There's one more to go
31:11before we find out
31:12which will make
31:13the shortlist.
31:14And then,
31:15from all those
31:15shortlisted homes,
31:17we'll discover which one
31:18will win the title
31:19for the House of the Year
31:202025.
31:30A key part
31:31of the architectural imagination
31:34is seeing
31:35how something
31:36can be transformed.
31:37To look at a building
31:38that's unloved
31:39and unused
31:40and imagine it
31:41as a place
31:41entirely new.
31:43Now,
31:44this building,
31:46built by the architects
31:47Tonkin and New,
31:48began life
31:48as a rusty old
31:50water tower.
31:51They had the vision
31:52to transform it,
31:54to turn the concrete stem
31:56into a staircase
31:57and the steel tank
31:58at the top
31:59into this.
32:00a beautiful living room
32:02with the best seats
32:04in the house.
32:04I mean,
32:05literally.
32:06It is a bold bit
32:07of rethinking.
32:09But our next
32:09longlister,
32:11they've pulled off
32:12something arguably
32:13even more extreme.
32:17Once upon a time,
32:19on the Isle of Wight,
32:20in the early 1900s,
32:22a humble cowshed
32:24was built
32:25with slurry underfoot,
32:29hay overhead
32:30and the occasional swallow
32:32nesting in the rafters.
32:36A hundred years later,
32:37it was deserted,
32:39derelict
32:39and forgotten
32:40until Joseph,
32:43an artist and academic,
32:45learned about it.
32:45I saw some photographs
32:47and I was immediately
32:49attracted,
32:50so much so
32:51that I told the kids,
32:52I'll be back
32:53in an hour.
32:54I identified
32:54where the barn was,
32:56got in the car,
32:57came here,
32:58let myself in,
33:00it was open,
33:01sort of,
33:02and stood
33:03in the courtyard
33:04and thought,
33:04like,
33:05this is where
33:06I want to live.
33:06And so,
33:10the old buyer
33:11was born,
33:13an extraordinary transformation,
33:15one that keeps
33:16much of what was there
33:17before,
33:17but gently adds
33:19newer elements.
33:21The space we're in
33:22at the moment
33:22is where I socialize
33:23and where I cook
33:24and where I spend the day
33:25and spend time
33:26with friends.
33:27This is a really
33:28open space,
33:30whereas the other barn,
33:32the 19th century barn,
33:33has smaller,
33:35more intimate spaces.
33:37My library,
33:40corridors,
33:42spaces for sleeping,
33:45bathroom,
33:47and spaces
33:48that can be used
33:49as studios.
33:52So,
33:52in their nature,
33:53they're very,
33:54very different.
33:55The old buyer
33:57is, in fact,
33:57not one,
33:58but two barns,
34:00one built
34:00in the early 1900s,
34:01the other in the 1960s.
34:03The newer barn
34:04houses the main
34:05living space,
34:06a bright open kitchen,
34:08a generous dining area,
34:09and a calm,
34:10stripped-back lounge.
34:12The older,
34:13L-shaped barn
34:14holds the bedrooms
34:15and a couple
34:15of quiet studio spaces.
34:18The RIBA judges
34:20admired the contrasts
34:21this project offered,
34:22where new and old
34:23materials and structures
34:25sit comfortably
34:26alongside each other,
34:28nowhere more so
34:29than in the main
34:30living and working space.
34:31The roof is pretty much
34:35as it was.
34:35We reinforced it,
34:37visibly mended it
34:38where we had to.
34:40There are still remnants
34:42of what is probably
34:43cow poo on the wall.
34:45There is a swallow's nest.
34:46There is hair.
34:47There are old nails.
34:49So all of this
34:49is still in the walls.
34:52The construction approach
34:53was deliberately
34:54as rough and ready
34:55as the original building itself.
34:57The doors came from Spain,
35:00I think,
35:01which took a long time.
35:03One of the doors
35:03didn't quite fit,
35:05so I rang the builder
35:06and a few hours later
35:07it was sorted.
35:08I think they shaved
35:09a little bit off
35:10the door frame,
35:11or the door,
35:12or either.
35:13I'm not going to ask.
35:16One of the greatest
35:17interventions here
35:18is what they've done
35:19to the front of the building.
35:22By day,
35:23it brings in soft light.
35:25By night,
35:27it glows.
35:30The facade
35:31that faces the courtyard
35:32is made from polycarbonate,
35:33so it looks like paper.
35:36It lets light in
35:37and brings light
35:38into the space.
35:40This insulated facade
35:41cost an eye-watering
35:4317 grand,
35:44a unique expense
35:45in what was otherwise
35:46a cost-conscious home
35:47built for $360,000.
35:49Extraordinary for a project
35:51of this ambition.
35:52The budget was tight,
35:55but that led to
35:57most of the decisions
35:59we made about everything.
36:00I don't think there's
36:01anything where we thought
36:02we're going to spend
36:03more on this element,
36:04so we tested thoroughly
36:06the costs
36:07of different approaches
36:08and that's how
36:09we made decisions.
36:11So, no,
36:11I wouldn't say
36:11it was to do with
36:12spending more
36:14on certain elements.
36:15The Old Buyer
36:22is masterful,
36:24not a glossy
36:25reinterpretation
36:26of raw rusticity.
36:28New materials
36:28and ideas
36:29have here
36:30been finely tuned
36:31to an appropriate
36:32level of humility.
36:34With that
36:34comes a gentle,
36:36brutal honesty.
36:37It's a cowshed
36:38made livable,
36:39not just through redesign,
36:40but in the refusal
36:41to lie about
36:42what it ever was.
36:44Why did I keep
36:46the swallow's nest?
36:47What would be
36:48the advantage
36:49of removing it?
36:50Like, I would take away
36:51a story of the building.
37:00We've explored
37:01five remarkable homes
37:03so far,
37:04but which will earn
37:05their place
37:05on the coveted shortlist?
37:08The house of
37:09wood shingle,
37:10a 60s bungalow
37:11wrapped head-to-toe
37:12in timber,
37:12part house,
37:13part hedgehog.
37:15House stead,
37:16four buildings,
37:17one family home,
37:19a place that rewrites
37:20the idea
37:20of what a house is.
37:22The orchards,
37:24barn on the outside,
37:26bond lair
37:26on the inside.
37:28London brute,
37:29a concrete wedge
37:30in a polite
37:31London postcoat,
37:32brutalism
37:33with a posh accent.
37:35The old buyer,
37:37a luminous barn conversion
37:39where the history
37:40is intact,
37:41swallow's nest and all.
37:46Joining me
37:47is the chair
37:48of the judges,
37:49David Kohn.
37:50David,
37:50how many projects
37:51from this category
37:52have you selected
37:53for the shortlist?
37:53So there are two projects
37:55in this category.
37:56First being?
37:57London Brutes.
38:01Of all the ones
38:03we saw,
38:03probably it's the project
38:05that is most concerned
38:07with elegance.
38:08It's a very refined,
38:11calm experience
38:12to be there.
38:14And I think
38:15the abiding memory
38:16one would have
38:17of the visit
38:18is the relationship
38:19of these exquisitely
38:20proportioned rooms
38:21and gardens.
38:25That's fantastic.
38:28Feels, yeah,
38:29feels all of that work
38:31has been worthwhile.
38:35So what's the second house
38:36that you've chosen?
38:37The second house
38:39is house stead.
38:43Which is more
38:44than a house.
38:45It's a stead.
38:46It's an arrangement
38:47of buildings.
38:48Living,
38:49sleeping,
38:50service,
38:51quarter.
38:53Take away
38:53any one of the parts
38:54and it doesn't work.
38:55Yeah.
38:55It needs them all
38:56and the house is
38:57all of them together.
38:59A lot of people
38:59won't like it.
39:00A lot of people
39:01will look at that
39:01and say,
39:02I'm not going to live
39:02like that.
39:03Why should I walk
39:04in the rain
39:04just to go and put
39:05a log in the wood burner?
39:07It is an extraordinary
39:07experimental project.
39:08I think it's a project
39:09which takes a lot
39:11of license
39:11with a lot of things
39:13and makes something
39:14utterly unique.
39:17Being shortlisted
39:18is fabulous.
39:20Really, really pleased.
39:22Yeah, couldn't be
39:22more pleased.
39:24Fabulous.
39:24It's a great reward.
39:26Thank you very much.
39:29So,
39:30Housestead
39:30and London Brute
39:32take their place
39:32on the shortlist.
39:34That's it.
39:35The shortlist
39:36is complete
39:36and we now have
39:37our seven finalists
39:39for the 2025
39:40Royal Institute
39:41of British Architects
39:42House of the Year.
39:44In the running,
39:45we have
39:46Kirk and the Craig
39:47on the Isle of Harris
39:48and Hastings House
39:50on the south coast.
39:52There's the glorious
39:53Triangle House,
39:55the Agricultural
39:56Janks Barn,
39:58Amento
39:59and then
40:00Housestead
40:01and London Brute.
40:04The judges
40:05have a very difficult
40:06decision to make.
40:11So,
40:11I'm walking up a hill
40:12to visit
40:14this year's winner
40:15of House of the Year.
40:16Now,
40:16I'm hoping the background
40:17is out of focus
40:19because it's important
40:20that you shouldn't
40:21be able to tell
40:22where I am.
40:22No, no, no,
40:23come back here.
40:24Sorry,
40:25not just yet.
40:27What I'll say is
40:28the building's
40:29right in front of me.
40:31and it looks
40:32extraordinary.
40:38It is this
40:39incredible home
40:40that takes the prize.
40:43Kirk and the Craig
40:43on the Isle of Harris
40:45in Scotland,
40:46built through
40:46sleep and struggle
40:48and storm
40:49by its owners
40:50Ailey and Jack.
40:52Hi.
40:52Yeah.
40:53Nice to meet you.
40:54Ailey, how are you?
40:55Good to see you both.
40:57Who, by the way,
40:58think I've just come
40:59to visit their
40:59shortlisted building.
41:01Nice to show you
41:02in person
41:02and actually be here.
41:03Well, no,
41:04it's so important,
41:05isn't it,
41:05to actually make
41:06the effort to go
41:06and visit something
41:07and be there
41:07and experience it.
41:08I mean,
41:08it's made from that.
41:10It's made from
41:10everything around it.
41:11So good.
41:12It's so good.
41:13And by the way,
41:14congratulations on
41:15making the shortlist.
41:16So deserving.
41:17Oh, sorry,
41:18I forgot to say,
41:18also, congratulations
41:19on winning.
41:20Yeah.
41:22Incredible.
41:22This is House
41:23of the Year 2025.
41:24Wow.
41:29Oh, my God.
41:30How about that?
41:31That's fantastic.
41:31Sorry, I could not
41:32tell you.
41:33I could not tell you.
41:35Congratulations.
41:36Oh, my God.
41:37Thanks very much.
41:38So good.
41:38So good.
41:39And so well-deserved.
41:41Oh, my gosh.
41:42I can't believe it.
41:44Have you actually?
41:45Oh, my God.
41:45Yes, you have.
41:46That's why I've come
41:48to see you.
41:49Because it's so clever.
41:52Well, it's built
41:52from the landscape
41:53and they point out
41:54this rock and everything
41:55is moving around it.
41:56Yeah.
41:57Yeah.
42:00This house is crafted
42:02from the very rock
42:03that the island
42:03is made from.
42:05This is the local stone.
42:07Local stone.
42:08And it's called?
42:09Louisian Nice.
42:11From the Isle of Louis.
42:12Yeah.
42:13Louisian Nice.
42:14But that's one of the
42:15most ancient stones
42:16on the planet, isn't it?
42:17Yeah, it's incredibly old
42:18and it's the reason
42:19why Harris is still here
42:20because it's made
42:21of the hard rock.
42:24It makes your house
42:25a billion years old.
42:27Yeah, exactly.
42:29Louisian Nice.
42:30Tough as anything.
42:32And exactly what you want
42:33between you
42:33and a howling Atlantic storm.
42:36That protects the house.
42:38They've got this
42:39to protect the occupants.
42:41I love this.
42:41This is your
42:42fantastic threshold.
42:44A glorious
42:45entry.
42:48A beautiful porch.
42:48Very deep.
42:49Covered.
42:50Yeah.
42:50Yeah.
42:51The shelter's
42:51really important.
42:52Why is that?
42:55It gets a bit wind.
42:57Yeah.
42:59Nothing quite prepares you
43:01for the experience
43:02of walking in.
43:03This is unexpected
43:08because you approach
43:09the building
43:09from the front
43:10and it's like a pillbox.
43:11Yeah.
43:11It's like a very small.
43:13It's like a TARDIS
43:14in stone.
43:15Yes.
43:15Then reaches back.
43:16You think it's just
43:17long and thin.
43:17It's not long and thin at all.
43:19I look down there,
43:20see the reflection.
43:21Yeah.
43:21There's the dining table,
43:23which is a lovely thing
43:24because it's circular
43:24and welcoming.
43:25And then there's this view
43:26of just the rock on the hill
43:28and what's clever here
43:29is the,
43:30it's like this floor
43:32on the outside.
43:33It's simply a continuation.
43:35Yeah.
43:35I think that's one
43:36of the hardest things
43:36that we find in architecture
43:37is trying to allow,
43:39talk to people
43:41and say,
43:42that is a really good view,
43:44maybe the best view
43:44of the site,
43:44but don't just reveal
43:46it all straight away.
43:47Yeah.
43:48Layer through it
43:48like you were saying,
43:49almost like a story.
43:50Architecture should be
43:51that's revealing
43:52this kind of staged act,
43:54if you like.
43:55I think it makes it
43:56quite creative.
43:57Yeah.
43:57And I'm very taken with it.
44:00So what was it particularly
44:02that won over the judges?
44:05Why did you choose this
44:06to be the winner?
44:07It was,
44:08I would say,
44:09really hard
44:10but unanimous decision.
44:12To do a project
44:13like this
44:14in such a remote location
44:15on that budget
44:17required a partnership
44:19that is really admirable.
44:21And I don't think
44:23every couple
44:23would survive
44:25doing that kind of
44:27self-built project.
44:29What an amazing achievement
44:30against lots of odds.
44:32I mean,
44:32this project's just been ambitious
44:33on so many levels,
44:34not only with the detailing,
44:36the way it's actually made
44:37and crafted,
44:38but also the couple
44:39and their plan
44:40to build the house themselves.
44:42Such a good point,
44:43isn't it?
44:43Yeah.
44:44Often the bigger,
44:45the baggier something is,
44:47the less energy it has
44:48and you can find
44:49extraordinary energy
44:50in this more
44:52perfectly made thing.
44:58It's this quiet,
44:59determined,
45:00palpable energy
45:01born of hands
45:03that shape stone,
45:04of minds
45:05that listen to the land
45:06that makes this building
45:08the house of the year
45:092025.
45:13That building
45:14speaks eloquently
45:15of this entire place.
45:18It speaks of people.
45:19It speaks of the story
45:20of a handful of them
45:22carrying stone,
45:24drying wood
45:24and crafting
45:26with their knuckles
45:27and their fingers
45:28every tiny square inch
45:30of this building.
45:32This is the future,
45:34isn't it?
45:35This points somewhere else.
45:37This doesn't say,
45:37look at me,
45:38I've got a huge cantilever.
45:40This says,
45:42I have a role
45:43and an important role here
45:45in responding
45:46to people
45:47and to place.
45:48It's almost as though
45:50this is the building
45:51that this island
45:53and this part of the world
45:55was waiting for.
45:55This is the building
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