House on the Hill 2021 RIBA House of the Year Award Winner
House on the Hill 2021 RIBA House of the Year Award Winner,
House on the Hill is a striking contemporary extension of an 18th century stone Georgian farmhouse in Gloucestershire.
Designed by Alison Brooks Architects, it won the 2021 RIBA House Award,
the prestigious award given by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), for reviving local traditions and handcrafted materials,
to be named the UK’s Best New Architectural Design House.
Architectural firm Alison Brooks Architects has designed a new suite,
featuring a dark color palette and cladding pattern inspired by the nearby Forest of Dean.
While the 18th century stone farmhouse has been converted into a gallery space,
it overlooks the Wye Valley in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
This engineering design skillfully combines old and new,
linking two structures separated by more than 300 years.
House on the Hill 2021 RIBA House of the Year Award Winner
House on the Hill is a remarkable result of a ten-year collaboration between homeowners and their architect, an extraordinary labor of love in architectural form.
Every detail has been meticulously considered and beautifully finished,
creating a truly gorgeous home that enhances its unique setting.
The renovation was developed for a couple collecting artworks for their art collection.
Together, the farmhouse and annex form an extraordinary ‘new home’ for the owners and their art collection,
by combining history and new materials in an elegant way.
The three-storey farmhouse has also been converted into a large gallery space that seamlessly integrates with the contemporary extension.
The studio designed a new two-story wing larger than the original house,
the new extension featuring darker tones and a cladding pattern.
Common living spaces are allocated on the ground floor, such as the kitchen,
living area and dining areas flowing into each other and onto the outside terraces.
House on the Hill 2021 RIBA House of the Year Award Winner
With the kitchen located in the middle and overlooked by a gallery on the upper floor,
the space is flooded with natural light and provides panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.
Including a new custom-made garden with dry stone walls,
the house’s main stair doubles as a gallery and leads to two bedrooms, an office and another balcony.
Intentionally sloping and undulating corners are created throughout the house,
from skylights to walls and steel cruciform columns.
To reflect the topography of neighboring meadows,
drawing the eye forward to new and surprising focal points.
Geothermal and aerial heat pumps and solar panels work together to reduce the building’s overall energy consumption,
and the new wing has an expansive green roof planted with native wildflowers to reduce rainwater loss.
Lands around new wildflower meadows and orchards have also been revitalized as part of the renovations,
bordered by rehabilitated hedges and replenished with pollen-rich plant species.
Alison Brooks Architects have added depth of scope and richness of experience to the existing home and,
with a new extension, transition easily into the beautifully landscaped gardens.
