Bespoke homes in Northern Ireland and Devon – the latter designed by the practice of Pritzker Prize-winner Peter Zumthor – have become the latest additions to the shortlist for Riba House of the Year 2019.

McGonigle McGrath’s House Lessans at Saintfield, south east of Belfast, is a 235 sq m family home that judges said showed “remarkable restraint and skill” at the same time as exuding “calm, dignity and generosity”.

They added that the architects had shown “exemplary” skill in the way they had taken an existing barn and added a new forecourt and a bedroom block, as well as a private courtyard, to create a home with expansive living spaces and views onto rolling landscape.

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