Press Files: AR House Winners

1 July 2012

Press Resources for the Architectural Review’s Housing Competition 2012

The private house occupies a unique position both in the history of architecture and human imagination. Beyond its core function of shelter, it is an object of fantasy, a source of delight, a talisman and a testing ground. From Corbusier to Koolhaas, the progress of modern architecture can be tracked through a succession of pioneering individual houses.

AR House recognises innovation and excellence in house design. It is the one commission that virtually all architects tackle at some stage in their careers and is still an important rite of passage for young designers. Regardless of scale, site, programme or budget, the house offers the potential for genuine innovation and it remains critical to the ferment and crystallisation of new architectural ideas.
AR House celebrates this wellspring of creativity with a major award of £10,000 for the best one-off house. Last year’s winner was Architekten Martenson, Nagel und Theissen’s project - Just K, Zero Energy House, which impressed the jury with its innovative approach to materials, form, context and energy use.

WINNER

House for All Seasons, Shijia Villange, Shaanxi Province, China
JOHN LIN, DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Garoza House 10.1, Spain
HERREROS ARQUITECTOS

Toda House, Hiroshima, Japan
KIMIHIKO OKADA

House at Bogwest, County Wexford, Ireland
STEPHEN LARKIN ARCHITECTS

Outside In House, Yamanashi, Japan
TAKESHI HOSAKA ARCHITECTS

Shearer’s Quarters, Bruny Island, Australia
John Wardle Architects

COMMENDED

Holzkristal, Lumbrein, Switzerland
HURST SONG ARCHITEKTEN

Hut on Sleds, Coromandel Penisula, New Zealand
CROSSON CLARKE CARNACHAN ARCHITECTS

Nest House, Onomichi City, Japan
UID ARCHITECTS

Stone House, Luberon, France
CARL FREDERIK SVENSTEDT

Shelter@Rainforest, Sabah State, Borneo, Malaysia
MARRA + YEH ARCHITECTS

Dig In The Sky House, Osaka, Japan
ALPHAVILLE ARCHITECTS

Images

Click on the Thumbnails High resolution photograph:

By examining, measuring and documenting traditional village courtyard house typologies − specifically in Shijia Village near Xi’an in Shaanxi Province − Lin and his team have sought to give a new twist to an old and successful vernacular format. This, he says, is an evolution of an existing form, rather than an architectural imposition.

‘Can we just have a second storey?’ they asked, having selected their architect in 2006 from a lifestyle magazine feature on talented but untested individuals who have worked in the shadow of more famous and celebrated designers. The crux of the question was really, ‘can our house float in mid air?’, and fortunately they chose an architect capable of bending the rules, as the then 35-year-old Kimihiko Okada had spent the previous seven years in the office of Ryue Nishizawa unpicking the idea of the traditional suburban home on projects such as the Moriyama House in Tokyo

Capable of expanding to meet its users’ needs and interests, the Garoza House is an industrialised, modular prototype. This first phase is designed around a large double-height volume that functions as a living, dining and cooking space. Corners, mezzanines and transition spaces become places for storage, working and sleeping.