In a series celebrating BD’s Architect of the Year Awards finalists, we look at the Individual House Architect of the Year shortlist
Earlier this year BD announced all the architects who made it on to the shortlists for our prestigious annual Architect of the Year Awards.
Now we are shining the spotlight on each category in turn and publishing a selection of the images that impressed the judges.
This year’s judges include: Yẹmí Aládérun, head of development, Meridian Water (Enfield Council); Amr Assaad, director, Buckley Gray Yeoman; Lee Bennet, partner, Sheppard Robson; Sarah Cary, chief development officer, White City at Imperial; Ben Derbyshire, chair, HTA Design LLP; Martyn Evans, creative director, U+I; Dicle Guntas, managing director, HGG London; Gavin Hale-Brown, director, Henley Halebrown; Tanvir Hasan, director emeritus, Donald Insall Associates; Lee Higson, board director, Eric Parry Architects; David Kohn, founder and director, David Kohn Architects; Oliver Lowrie, director and founder, Ackroyd Lowrie; Anna Mansfield, director, Publica; Jo McCafferty, director, Levitt Bernstein; Ian McKnight, director, Hall McKnight; John McRae, director, Orms; Andrew Mellor, partner, PRP; Sadie Morgan, director, dRMM; Setareh Neshati, director of regeneration and development – delivery and operations, Westminster City Council; David Partridge, co-founder, Senze; Manisha Patel, director, kpk Studios; Sarah Robinson, associate director, The King’s Foundation; Simon Saint, principal, Woods Bagot; Philippa Simpson, director for buildings and renewal, Barbican Centre; David Stansfield, senior partner, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; Amin Taha, director, Groupwork; Magali Thomson, project lead for placemaking, Great Ormond Street Hospital; Ola Uduku, head of school, Liverpool School of Architecture; Tatiana von Preussen, co-founder, vPPR; Richard Wardle, director, Stanton Williams.
Today’s shortlist is for Individual House Architect of the Year.
Eldridge London
This entry comprises two coastal homes, a Paragraph 84 house in the Surrey countryside and a new build in an inner London conservation area. All, says the practice, ‘are clearly of their time, but also highly attuned to the particularities of place’. Both seaside projects have been completed: the Beach House at Shoreham-by-Sea and a hillside cottage redevelopment that makes full use of views overlooking St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall.
Graeme Williamson Architects
The practice strives to make ‘memorable and adaptable architecture with a focus on sustainability and materiality’. The two new build houses in the entry were designed using early-stage carbon assessment of construction systems, and software analysis of orientation, glazing strategy and overheating risk.
Twin House, designed for a blended family in East London, balances the need for both social and private spaces. Catslide House in Harpenden references Arts and Crafts and 1970s homes in the site’s vicinity.
McLaren Excell
McLaren Excell describes its architecture as ‘quiet, confident and enduring’.
In Fitzrovia, a £3.75 million project at a Grade II listed Georgian townhouse includes the integration of its mews house, while in Wimbledon, a 1970s house has been reimagined with interlocking volumes of concrete, timber and brick, the latter forming a fortress-like façade. Teddington House reworks a near-derelict Edwardian home, while Henley House introduces a more sympathetic dual-pitched rear extension.
McLean Quinlan
Two projects demonstrate the practice’s commitment to ‘sustainable, contextually responsive, and crafted architecture’.
Completed last year, Bay House is a low-impact home on a steep hillside on the North Devon coast. Its curved form follows natural contours, with thick stone walls and a coastal grass roof. Nottinghamshire House is due to complete next year. Its form is inspired by the rhythm of medieval ridge and furrow fields, with brickwork textures referencing the client’s historical link with the textiles trade.
Nick Willson Architects
Two self-build houses in West Sussex comprise the entry from Nick Willson Architects.
Three Oaks Farm is a single-storey home around a central courtyard and colonnade, with large areas of glazing encouraging interaction with the new biodiverse landscaping. Each wing has its own use, such as eating, sleeping and working.
Martingales has an MMC timber frame and is clad in cedar shingles installed by the owner. The house is based around three new gardens and courtyards.
Oliver Leech Architects
The practice describes its focus as ‘designing quiet, characterful homes that balance warmth, clarity and rigour’.
The entry features three rural homes, including Chalk River House on the banks of the River Test in Hampshire, which has a prefabricated timber frame and uses natural materials such as handmade Roman bricks and lime render. In London, Poets Corner House is a renovation and extension of a Victorian terraced house in a South London conservation area.
Paper Igloo
‘Our homes are forever,’ says the Stirling-based practice, which designs all its new builds to Passivhaus Standard. Its entry comprises four homes in rural Scotland. These include Melamar, completed at the end of 2023 in striated Caithness stone and timber cladding, with angled bay windows framing hillside views. Three in-progress projects include Kuro, located on a rural agricultural site near Glasgow and clad almost entirely in weather-resistant black steel.
Wilkinson King Architects
Two homes are showcased in this entry. Field House, a family home set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Sussex, has a hybrid construction of French limestone on the ground floor and a Douglas fir timber upper storey, with a roof form referencing local barns. In Weybridge, the 350 sqm new build has a prefabricated glulam floor and roof structure and has a simple exterior of handmade bricks, in contrast with the diverse styles and materials of its neighbours.
Postscript
The Architect of the Year Awards are on Wednesday, 15 October 2025 at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, Grosvenor Sq, London, W1K 6JP.
Book your place here.
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