An off-grid “modest, sustainable home” in the Scottish Highlands has been crowned House Of The Year.
All energy used at Lochside House comes from the sun and water is pulled up from a borehole.
The “humble” piece of architecture, sitting on the edge of a lake, is described as a “perfect addition to the dream landscape”.
The honour is awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) to the UK’s best new architect-designed house.
The new home in the west Highlands was designed by Haysom Ward Miller Architects.
The house, owned by a ceramic artist, is formed of three finely-crafted buildings huddled together and clad in burnt Scottish larch, protected by a traditional drystone wall.
With roofs that “echo the distant mountains”, judges said it is “perfectly integrated into the wild and rugged landscape”.
Riba president Ben Derbyshire described the home as “truly breath-taking” and the “perfect addition to this dream landscape”.
Architect Takero Shimazaki, chair of the 2018 Riba House of the Year jury, said there was an “overwhelming sense of comfort, warmth and homeliness” inside the house.
It was “astonishing” that the owner’s vision was not scuppered by the “remoteness and challenging weather”, the judge said.
Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud, who revealed the winner on Channel 4, said the house is “the kind of architecture we can all easily learn from and it’s a way of building that we, in Britain, are getting really very good at”.
