Set in the Dorset countryside, the dwelling by David Kohn Architects draws on a plethora of styles and has won the RIBA House of the Year award for 2022
“Ordinary yet quirky, extravagant although utilitarian, The Red House confronts our expectations of a house in a beautiful setting that never wants to settle into being one way or another,” jury Chair, Taro Tsurata, said speaking of The Red House, the winning abode for the 2022 RIBA House of the Year award.
The house was unveiled by Kevin McCloud as the 2022 winner in the final episode of the Channel 4 series Grand Designs House of the Year, being selected from a shortlist of seven.
Ensconced in the undulating topography of the Dorset countryside, The Red House takes on a myriad of stylistic cues: from the rural vernacular of CFA Voysey, the eccentricity of James Stirling, Louis Kahn’s assertions in brick, and the elegance of Piero Portaluppi.
Oversized eaves, coloured in unmissable Staatsgalerie green, amplify the overhang of the slate roof above and minimise overheating during summer months, as well as being home to nesting sites for wildlife. This green detailing punctuates the property and is found around windows and doors, being a tonal contrast to the patterned red brickwork that ultimately defines The Red House.
Inside, an open-plan ground floor provides a light, airy quality to the house. Rooms are delineated by walls that, through moving in and out of alignment, provide glimpses and glances into other areas of the house. This in turn allows the staircase to be the centrepiece, both in plan and through sheer panache, through its sculptural design, dropping down through a projecting bay window.
“The Red House winning the RIBA House of the Year Award is a validation of the ambition and unerring support of our clients and the dedication of the whole project team. Furthermore, the jury have chosen to support architecture that is intimate, playful, colourful, and engages both with its context and history. I could not be more delighted,” said architect David Kohn.
The owner of The Red House meanwhile said, “we never expected to win the award, so are beyond thrilled that the quality of design was recognised. It is hard as novices to design a new house in a sensitive rural location, but if we’d built an invisible house or a pastiche design it would have been a cop-out. We love the house and its happy eccentricity.”
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