Artefact’s Triangle House project has been awarded the Highly Commended award for a 20th century house extension in Surrey. The judges said the project sent a message about residential expansions needed in coming years for post-war housing.
The Sustainability Award went to Topo Architects for the NewBridge project, which the judges championed for setting a precedent for reuse, despite the scarcity of materials.
Judges said the project, a renovation of a five-storey former office building in Newcastle for a local arts charity working with young people, set an example in avoiding demolition, given calls for it to be bulldozed of similar office buildings in the region.
Commonbond Architects won the People’s Choice Award for its Gardenhide Studio, winning almost 25% of the votes received from AJ readers in an online poll. Nearly 1,600 votes were received this year.
The £22,000 project is a self-built hempcrete architectural studio in south-east London, designed by and for emerging studio Commonbond Architects. It was designed in part as a test bed for the use of a breathable biocircular building material, as well as to create a garden studio that felt definitively integrated into the garden.
The AJ Small Projects Award, now in its 29th year, celebrates architecture and structures produced on a smaller scale, this year with a maximum budget of £350,000.
-Small Projects offers a showcase of the best in low-cost design from top designers. Previous winners include Rashid Ali Architects, Carmody Groarke, Haworth Tompkins, HawkinsBrown, David Leech Architects, Kate Darby Architects and Mole Architects.
This year, nearly 150 applications were received. The preselected range from a small forest sauna and city benches to community centers and renovated and newly built entire houses. And, as always, there are beautiful domestic extensions formed from rich material palettes to give longevity to the homes they were built for.
The 20 preselected firms presented their projects to a jury of eminent judges on May 1. The judging panel included returning judges Esther Everett, head of design at London Legacy Development Corporation; Pedro Gil, director of Studio Gil; and Fiona Scott, director at Gort Scott. They were joined by Chris Upson of UGU Architects, winner of last year’s MMAS Architects Award for the Adelaide Street project in Belfast.
The judging was followed by a celebration during which the winners of the overall prize, the sustainability prize and the people’s prize were announced. This year the event took place at the offices of previous winner, HawkinsBrown, in Clerkenwell.
AJ subscribers can read our special Small Projects issue here. If you are not a subscriber, you can discover our subscription plans here, or you can purchase a copy of the Small Projects issue on the AJ Shop. All entries for this year’s awards can be viewed free of charge in the AJ Buildings Library.
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