South London home Soffitt House by Clapham architects Proctor & Shaw has been named the overall winner during a much-awaited event in London, announcing the gongs for this year’s Don’t Move, Improve! competition.
Organised by the NLA and judged by a panel of experts including architect Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu and London Festival of Architecture director Tamsie Thompson, the competition – now in its tenth year – is a staple in the annual architecture calendar in the UK capital. The winners, which span from loft and rear extensions to creative redesigns and internal rearrangements on the domestic scale, tackle important aspects of home design, such as craftsmanship, character and size.
Apart from the overall winner, the list this year included 32 Laurier Road, Camden by Richard Keep Architects for Urban Oasis of the Year; Apartment Block, Islington by Coffey Architects for the Materiality and Craftsmanship Prize; Disappearing Bathroom House, Waltham Forest by Manyu Architects for Best Project Under 75K; Three Rooms Under a New Roof, Hackney by Ullmayer Sylvester Architects Ltd for the Environmental Leadership Prize; Vestry Road, Southwark by Oliver Leech Architects for Compact Design of the Year; and The White Rabbit House, Islington by Gundry + Ducker for the Unique Character Prize.
A go-to event to celebrate the humble art of home improvement, this is a competition full of ingenious solutions, fit for adding a bit of luxury to our everyday spaces. ‘Soffit House is a wonderful example of how the space and light in a terraced house can be enhanced by good design,’ stated the judging panel. ‘The judges enjoyed how this simple addition transformed the sense of space and connected the areas of the house with each other and the garden. A beautifully understated and generous home!’ §
