Six Columns by 31/44 Architects named RIBA House of the Year

Six Columns, the self-designed house of architect Will Burges in London, has been named RIBA Home of the 12 months for 2024.

Positioned on a good wedge-shaped web site in Crystal Palace, the home was designed by Burges together with his studio 31/44 Architects for himself, his spouse and two rising youngsters.

Six Columns was hailed by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for its adaptable design, which is hoped to accommodate the altering wants of Burges and his household over time.

The chair of the jury, Studio Weave director Je Ahn, stated this “demonstrates an vital message that we must always all bear in mind”.

“Constructing your personal house is a massively intensive endeavour; if you’re fortunate sufficient to do it in any respect, you’ll most likely solely ever do it as soon as in your life,” stated Ahn.

“This philosophy of the house as a lifelong course of could be a tough idea on this fast-paced contractual world, nevertheless, Six Columns demonstrates an vital message that we must always all bear in mind; your property shouldn’t be a static slice of time, however repeatedly evolves with you,” he continued.

The Home of the 12 months prize is awarded yearly by the RIBA to the perfect one-off home by an architect within the UK. Six Columns was chosen because the winner for 2024 from a six-strong shortlist additionally together with Peckham Home by Surman Weston and Farmworker’s Home by Hugh Unusual Architects.

The opposite three shortlisted initiatives for this 12 months’s prize have been Eavesdrop by Tom Dowdall Architects, The Corridor by TaylorHare Architects and Plas Hendy Secure Block by Studio Brassica Architects.

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Externally, Six Columns is meant to align with the encircling Fifties streetscape, outlined by a pared-back materials palette of tactile brick and terracotta tiles.

Nonetheless, upon nearer inspection, it’s animated by a variety of eclectic particulars with a number of influences, together with the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe and the brutalist fashion of structure.

All through the inside, rooms are completed with a tactile palette of uncovered concrete and painted brickwork, in addition to untreated spruce joinery that’s supposed to be simply adjusted sooner or later.

Different key options of its inside embrace a mixture of versatile open-plan dwelling areas alongside extra contained, modular bed room areas, which will be tailor-made to the household over time.

RIBA president Muyiwa Oki described Six Columns as a “superbly crafted household house”.

“It exhibits what will be achieved when working with even the tightest of suburban websites, and its versatile, unfinished aesthetic presents an answer to futureproofed design: this can be a house that may evolve with its occupants’ altering wants over time,” stated Oki.

Final 12 months’s winner of RIBA Home of the 12 months the riad-inspired Inexperienced Home by Hayhurst & Co, which was described by the jury as “a real oasis throughout the metropolis”.

Earlier recipients embrace Purple Home by David Kohn Architects and Home on the Hill by Alison Brooks Architects.

The video is by RIBA and the pictures is by Constructing Narratives.