RIBA House of the Year 2023 shortlist: Made of Sand

The Royal Institute of British Architects awards the House of the Year annually to the best example of a one-off house designed by an architect in the UK, celebrating excellence and innovation in home design.

Made of Sand, Devon by Studio Weave

This two-story annex sensitively extends a Devonshire stone cottage, creating a space to connect with nature and art. Working with local craftsmen, traditional methods have been delicately blended with contemporary design to create a calming environment to rest and creatively recharge.

The heavily insulated timber frame is exposed both internally and externally while Western Red Cedar cladding and panels of Douglas fir on the interior, anchor the property in the surrounding hills. The warm palette continues throughout with handmade terracotta floor tiles and rust-coloured plaster walls seamlessly bringing together the existing and new structures.

"Because this was a worker's cottage, it didn't really have the areas you'd want in rural living. We were thinking about how the property can evolve to accommodate this modern family's need of how they want to live with this landscape." -- Je Ahn, Founding Architect, Studio Weave.

"The house was originally cottages for miners of sand. Whoever built the house to begin with obviously had really great ideas. As it's progressed and changed over time, it has a real interaction with its space; a relationship between the indoors and outdoors." -- Natalie, homeowner.

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