For those who’ve been serious about shifting, London’s built-environment group needs you to contemplate staying put.
On Tuesday night time, the New London Structure group (NLA) held its fifteenth annual Don’t Transfer, Enhance! awards, showcasing probably the most progressive and sustainable residence renovations across the metropolis.
This 12 months’s Dwelling of the 12 months prize, chosen from greater than 150 entries, was awarded to Aden Grove, a home within the borough of Hackney. The venture, by Emil Eve Architects, added 765 sq. toes to what had been a 1,065-square-foot mid-terrace residence utilizing two colourful terra-cotta tiled additions — one on the rear, one on the roof — and maximized house by utilizing the total width of the slim lot the place attainable, together with within the new kitchen and eating space.
“Rising up, I at all times lived in a home and had a pleasant huge backyard, so I spent lots of time exterior,” mentioned Matjaz Cuk, who lives in the home along with his accomplice Tess Bridgman and their 5-month-old daughter. “Since then, it was at all times a wrestle. You had been in small flats and also you by no means had house. After which having the ability to lastly have a pleasant house the place you’ll be able to entry the backyard, and you may be in the home and benefit from the backyard as properly, so type of bringing the whole lot collectively, that was such an enormous change.”
Aden Grove additionally gained the prize for Materiality and Craftsmanship, “for its beautiful use of supplies and dedication to high quality building, using tiles in a approach that we don’t see typically in an exterior setting,” in response to the judges’ feedback.
The usage of pure supplies contributed to the house’s sustainability upgrades, such because the addition of an air-source warmth pump, improved insulation together with new home windows, and a sensible heating system.
“It was positively proper up there in our authentic venture transient that we wished to enhance the form of sustainability credentials,” Ms. Bridgman mentioned. “It’s clearly troublesome being, you realize, a Nineteenth-century, mid-terrace London property. However we’re within the twenty first century, and it’s an actual missed alternative to not do this.”
Different winners amongst this 12 months’s 9 classes included Hillside Home, in Waltham Forest, which took the Distinctive Character prize for its design by Mike Tuck Studio. The venture, a reimagining of a postwar household residence that the homeowners had initially wished to promote however reconsidered, was acknowledged for its “distinctive design and dedication to pleasant detailing.”
“We wished a single residing house the place we may cook dinner, eat, chill out, play and create as a household,” mentioned the owners, Nina and Benji Davies. “Our house is now daring and playful, but sensible and comforting.”
A compact triangular home in West Hampstead, Camden, gained the prize for Greatest Challenge Below £100K. Architect Richard Brown of Brown Urbanism and home-owner Katrina Damigos collaborated to remodel a triangular former mechanic’s storage right into a surprisingly spacious live-work residence. The home is a “small however exceptional instance of environment friendly design and considerate use of house, with out comprising high quality and character,” famous the judges.
Different winners included the “Inexperienced Machine” home, designed by SUPRBLK Studio and acknowledged for its “progressive method to compact residing, with good detailing and slightly contact of colour,” within the Compact Design class; “Home Made by Many Arms,” designed by Cairn Structure, which gained the Environmental Management prize for its pioneering use of low-carbon LC3 concrete (“It makes use of 40 p.c much less emissions,” mentioned Federico Ortiz, who heads NLA’s packages.); and the “Chelsea Brut” home, by Pricegore, which gained the City Oasis prize for its “refurbishment and extension of a Nineteen Sixties townhouse, together with the whole renewal of the constructing’s providers and thermal material.”
The member-supported New London Structure group, which can mark its twentieth anniversary subsequent 12 months, started the Don’t Transfer, Enhance! awards to have a good time home-improvement tasks that, just like the architects who design them, typically go unnoticed however have huge worth.
This 12 months’s theme was “Reimagine the Dwelling,” which ties into the 2024 “Reimagine” theme for NLA’s London Pageant of Structure, held each June. The awards additionally mirror NLA’s New London Agenda, a framework for town’s future improvement. (Discover the total listing of winners right here.)
Retrofitting present housing inventory is a crucial step for cities world wide, Mr. Ortiz mentioned, particularly with the rising risk of local weather change to properties and communities. “However for London particularly,” he mentioned, “due to the kind of housing that we’ve, which is often Victorian, smaller housing, decrease density. We expect that by celebrating this type of finest observe, we will all be taught other ways of retrofitting properties, considering of how of enhancing.”
