There are 20 homes vying for RIBA‘s House of the Year 2023 award, including a glass pavilion by Niall McLaughlin Architects and a timber-clad cottage extension by Studio Weave.

A converted pub by Erbar Mattes and the transformation of a former garage by Satish Jassal Architects are also both on the list.

RIBA House of the Year is awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) annually to the “best example of a one-off house designed by an architect in the UK”.

It was established in 2013 in replacement of the Manser Medal, which was set up in 2001.

Several of the homes longlisted for this year’s award were also recently named winners of the RIBA National Awards for 2023.

These include a mass-timber home by Ao-ft, a castle-like dwelling in Scotland by Denizen Works and Niall McLaughlin Architects’ glasshouse-informed pavilion on the Isle of Wight.

An arts and crafts-style home by Rural Office and a clifftop house by Maich Swift Architects were also longlisted after receiving RIBA National Awards, alongside a pavilion with an oversailing roof by Hamish Herford and Nicholas Lyons and Ann Nisbet Studio‘s transformation of a stone ruin.

Jury chair Dido Milne said this year’s shortlist “showcases architects expressing their creativity within a wide variety of settings”.

Milne, who is a director at CSK Architects, is joined on the jury by Coppin Dockray Architects co-founder Bev Dockray, Al-Jawad Pile director Jessam Al-Jawad and The Modern House co-founder Albert Hill.

This year, the panel has placed a special focus on identifying projects where architects focused on their environmental impact, according to Milne.

“At this critical point in time in terms of ‘climate break down’ we were really looking to see how deep a dive the architects had taken into issues around environmental sustainability,” explained Milne.

“What we are building with, the provenance of materials and the impact on biodiversity are starting to really influence designs.”

Unlike the last seven years, the shortlist will be revealed exclusively by RIBA on 26 October rather than via the Grand Designs: House of the Year programme on Channel 4. The date of the winner announcement is yet to be revealed.

Previous winners include an “ordinary yet quirky” home in Dorset and a residence that references the hop-drying towers of the Kent countryside.

Scroll down to see the full longlist for 2023:

› Middle Avenue by Rural Office
› Rhossili House by Maich Swift Architects
› Riverview by Mole Architects
› Saltmarsh by Niall McLaughlin Architects
› Southwark Brick House by Satish Jassal Architects
› Spruce House by Ao-ft
› Threefold House by Knox Bhavan Architects

› Godwit House by MawsonKerr Architects
› Green House by Hayhurst and Co
› Hidden House by Hall + Bednarcyzk Architects
› House in Hove by Farshid Moussavi Architecture
› Hundred Acre Woodby Denizen Works
› Island House by Miya Ushida Architects
› Made of Sand by Studio Weave

› Blackbird by Hamish Herford and Nicholas Lyons
› Blockmakers Arms by Erbar Mattes
› Cove Ridge by Coffey Architects
› Cowshed by David Kohn Architects
› Cuddymoss by Ann Nisbet Studio
› Forest Road SNUG home by Ecomotive for HomeMade

The main photo of Saltmash House is by Nick Kane.

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British architecture studio Dowen Farmer Architects has released plans for Portal Road, a multistorey ghost-kitchen tower block in west London that would shuttle food to a public food hall like the “Ministry of Magic”.

The studio has filed plans for the building, which would be built in North Acton, London, and replace an unrealised scheme originally proposed by Scott Brownrigg in 2018.

This consisted of a two-tower development that would contain mixed-use rental kitchens and 376 homes.

Dowen Farmer Architects‘ proposal for the site, called Portal Road, would measure 28,000 square metres and consist of 12 storeys, 10 of which would be dedicated to 260 rentable ghost kitchens for use by local shops and restaurants.

Renders show the building with a large cubic form clad in metal mesh.

The ground floor of the structure has been designed as a two-storey podium that would be lined with glass and feature exposed structural beams that zigzag around the exterior.

The ground floor of the building would contain a vast public food hall housing 50 to 100 cafes, street vendors and restaurants that would aim to draw people to the site and create a sense of community.

At various points in the building’s elevations, large, three-storey-tall openings punctuate its facade, which would host a series of terraces across each of its floors.

Visitors to the Portal Road market space are expected to be able to order food from the resident kitchens across the 10 storeys of the building via an app. The food would then be shuttled to the food hall via “smart food lifts.”

“The food halls generate a sense of excitement with over 50 to 100 different food outlets with food ordered via apps and shuttled down to the market space via smart food lifts, akin to something from the Ministry of Magic,” said the studio.

“We anticipate this emerging sector will create ‘microwaves’ across the city in the coming years and are energised to be a part of the positive change,” continued Dowen Farmer Architects.

Dowen Farmer Architects explained that it looked to Sikh communities when designing the public space – specifically the way in which sharing food is a central point around relationships and community.

“This new industrial typology enables the reintegration of making space back into the heart of the city, providing employment in suburban locations of outer London,” it said.

“We are excited about an architecture that can start to question this status quo and plug into the renaissance of craft, industry, and making which are slowly returning to cities.”

A stepped public space will wrap around the exterior of the building and lead visitors to the food hall.

Elsewhere in London, Carmody Groarke recently announced its plans to add a children’s pavilion and extend a Grade II-listed cottage as part of a transformation at Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Earlier this year, London’s answer to the Las Vegas MSG Sphere, which was set to be designed by Populous, was placed on hold by Michael Gove.

The renders are by Blackpoint.

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The University of California has commenced an application process for studios to design student housing for its campus, in what appears to be a move away from its controversial Munger Hall dormitory announced in 2021.

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is accepting applications for a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) – a screening process to find suitable candidates – for the design of its UCSB Student Housing Infill and Redevelopment Project.

This would deliver “at least” 3,500 beds for undergraduate students to the UCSB campus, 3,000 of which would be located in new residential community housing.

The remaining 500 beds would be part of an East Campus Infill and Redevelopment effort that would “add additional beds within an existing community of UCSB residence hall,” the university said.

According to the RFQ, which was signed by campus architect Julie Hendricks, the projected construction budget for phases 1 and 2 of the student housing project is $600 million to $750 million.

Campus to continue to work on “planning and consultation process for Munger Hall”

The RFQ appears to suggest that UCSB is moving away from its plans to build Munger Hall, a mostly windowless dorm that would house up to 4,500 students.

However, UCSB spokeswoman Kiki Reyes told local newspaper The Tribune that the campus will “continue to work on the planning and consultation process for Munger Hall with members of our campus community, donors and stakeholders,” implying that the project could still be going ahead.

“The university is also actively moving forward simultaneously with plans to develop [the new housing],” Reyes added.

The controversial Munger Hall would measure 1.68 million square feet (156,000 square metres) and have fourteen entrances and exits. Its design means that 94 per cent of students living in it would reportedly be in windowless rooms, which would instead feature virtual windows simulating sunlight.

The building was conceived by billionaire Charles Munger, who donated $200 million to the project, which has an overall budget of about $1.5 billion.

Munger Hall review found “significant health and safety risks”

Last year, a review panel for the project was formed at the request of the Santa Barbara Division of the Academic Senate’s Executive Council. The panel included “faculty experts, other experts and stakeholder representatives” and released a report on Munger Hall on 1 November.

This stated that “research and analysis weighed by this Panel reveal significant health and safety risks that are predictable enough, probable enough, and consequential enough that it would be unwise for UCSB to proceed without significant modifications to the design”.

Among the panel’s concerns were “the effect of small, windowless bedrooms on mental and physical health” and “the effect of high population density on student well-being and local infrastructure”, as well as the “safety and evacuation during emergencies”.

The panel suggested five design modifications that would address its major concerns, including adding operable windows to as many bedrooms as possible and increasing the size of each single bedroom.

Munger Hall attracted criticism from the beginning of the project, with architect Dennis McFadden stepping down from a University of California committee in protest over its design.

In November 2021, more than 12,000 people had signed a petition against the construction of the building, which Munger said was informed by architect Le Corbusier and would “last as long as the pyramids”.

The main image is courtesy of University of California Santa Barbara.

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New York studio SHoP Architects has completed the black and bronze facade of the supertall skyscraper Brooklyn Tower, the tallest building in the borough.

At 93 storeys and 1,066 feet (325 metres) tall, the supertall skyscraper topped out in March 2023, but the intricate cladding of its exterior was only recently completed.

The skyscraper features blackened stainless panels running from the top of the tower towards the bottom, where it meets the preserved, historic Dimes Savings Bank, which has been integrated into the tower’s podium.

Running the length of the tower are bronze and copper pilasters that give definition to the black facade, which at certain points comes to edges, creating a staggered appearance. The building has quickly become one of, if not the most, visible structures on the Brooklyn skyline.

Last year, SHoP principal Greg Pasquarelli told Dezeen in an exclusive interview that the structure, because of its special zoning, “would be kind of like the Empire State Building of Brooklyn.”

“We wanted to make sure that no matter what grid you were on, looking at it from wherever you were in Brooklyn, you felt like you were looking at the front,” he continued.

The residential skyscraper, which has more than 500 residences as well as retail at its base, has a wider base than many other supertalls because of the winds in Brooklyn.

The larger base means that the tower tapers, drawing attention to the smaller peaks of the tower as it narrows towards the tops. The base is clad in white marble, reflecting the art deco bank, and darkens as it rises.

The tower also has a number of “wind floors” throughout its length that allow heavy gusts to pass throughout without rocking the massive structure. According to New York magazine Curbed, one of the taller wind floors has been outfitted with a basketball court, the highest in the world.

The tower’s distinct form and colour have led some in the city to compare the building to the architecture of Sauron’s Dark Fortress, a tower in Peter Jackson’s filmatisation of the Lord of the Rings novels.

Inside, the art deco design of the Dimes Saving Bank has been carried through many of the public spaces, including the lobby design by Krista Ninivaggi.

The tower features multiple entrances, one directly from the street and another through the renovated bank, which has become a retail and pedestrian space.

Local interior firm Gachot Studios carried out the design of most of the residences.

SHoP Architects is also responsible for the nearby Barclays Center, a stadium clad with thousands of steel panels.

It has designed a number of other buildings throughout the city, including 111 W 57th Street on Billionaires Row in Manhattan, the world’s skinniest supertall skyscraper.

The photography is by Max Touhey.

Project credits:

Developer: JDS Development Group
Builder: JDS Construction Group
Architect: SHoP Architects
Residential interior design: Gachot Studios
Amenities interior design: Krista Ninivaggi of Woods Bagot
Landscape design: HMWhite
Structural engineer: WSP
Mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineer: JB&B
Curtain wall consultant: MW Skins
Civil engineer: AKRF
Geotechnical engineer: Mueser Rutledge
Wind engineer: RWDI

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Scientists from Texas A&M University and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico have observed metal cracking and fusing back together, in a discovery that could pave the way for self-healing machines, vehicles and bridges.

Published in science journal Nature, the research shows that metal can self-repair microscopic cracks that form when the material is repeatedly put under stress.

This is achieved in a process known as cold welding, which means no heat or electricity is required.

The breakthrough could have major implications for engineering, the report argues, as 90 per cent of mechanical failures are a result of fatigue in metal components, which occurs when repetitive stress causes cracks to form.

By taking advantage of the self-healing process and tweaking the microstructure of metals accordingly, the scientists predict it might be possible to prevent fatigue cracking.

“We would like to understand how metal microstructure affects healing,” said Michael J Demkowicz, professor at Texas A&M and co-lead author of the study.

“Armed with that knowledge, we can envision tailoring microstructure to take advantage of self-healing in technological applications, for example, to create materials that are more resistant to fatigue damage,” he told Dezeen.

Self-healing possible with cold welding

Scientists have been investigating the potential of self-healing materials for some time.

Most breakthroughs have been in the development of plastics – on projects like a self-healing “e-skin” developed by University of Colorado Boulder scientists – although a recent MIT study also found it to be possible in concrete.

Before now, the property had not been observed in metals without heating them first.

The study shows it can be achieved at room temperature under vacuum conditions, in a process known as cold welding, which is primarily utilised in electronics and spacecraft technology.

This occurs when two bare pieces of metal become so close that their atoms are attracted to each other, causing their surfaces to fuse. It is only possible if the metals are completely clean.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories made the discovery during tests to see how cracks form in 40-nanometre-thick pieces of platinum.

They observed a crack fusing back together, leaving no trace and eventually reopening in a different location.

“This was absolutely stunning to watch first-hand,” Sandia scientist Brad Boyce told Wiley Analytical Science magazine.

“What we have confirmed is that metals have their own intrinsic, natural ability to heal themselves, at least in the case of fatigue damage at the nanoscale,” said Boyce, who is also co-lead author of the study.

Ten years before research can be put into practice

The findings prove a thesis first proposed by Demkowicz back in 2013, when he was working as a professor at MIT, based on the results of computer simulations produced with then-graduate student Guoqiang Xu.

At the time, the pair had no way of proving their theory. Now Sandia’s research has shown that self-healing is possible in copper as well as platinum and the researchers believe it can also occur in other metals.

The report states that the discovery “challenges the most fundamental theories on how engineers design and evaluate fatigue life in structural materials”.

However, Demkowicz claims it will be at least a decade before the insights can be used in practical application.

The next steps will be to explore whether metal can self-heal when exposed to air, not just in a vacuum, and whether the process is possible for metal alloys such as steel.

“The most important near-term consequences are for fundamental theories of fatigue in metals,” he told Dezeen. “These will have to be revised to take crack healing into account.”

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This week on Dezeen, architecture writer Matt Shaw reflected on what went wrong with Heatherwick Studio’s Vessel, two years after the 16-storey viewpoint in New York’s Hudson Yards was closed.

In an opinion piece for Dezeen, Shaw argued that the structure failed in its function as a public space because Heatherwick Studio and the developers failed to consult the local community in the design process.

“The Vessel shows us how bad the vampiric ultra-wealthy and their for-profit developers are at making public space and public art,” he wrote. “There must be a feedback loop between the top-down and the bottom-up.”

Another architecture project that proved controversial this week was the planned rugby stadium in the English city of Bath, for which the Bath Rugby club recently submitted the final development brief.

British studio Apollodorus Architecture argued that the proposed rectangular design was “at odds with Bath’s animated roofscape” and developed alternative plans for an oval design reminiscent of the Colosseum.

“The Romans invented the ellipse or oval for spectacles, so the choice seems apt given the city’s Romano-British origins,” said the studio’s director Mark Wilson Jones.

In China, architecture studio Zaha Hadid Architects announced plans for a 210-metre-tall skyscraper in Xi’an with a “cascade” of planted interior terraces modelled on mountainside waterfalls.

The mixed-use Daxia Tower will feature glazed keyhole-shaped openings on each of its elevations, so the terraces will offer views across the city.

This week, we also interviewed French designer Philippe Starck about his shift towards a more “asexual” design language, which he argues will become the norm in the face of an impending loneliness epidemic.

“The market of asexuality will be so revolutionary because everything we have produced in the world is driven by sexuality,” he told Dezeen. “What will be human production without sexuality? That is very, very interesting.”

Elsewhere in the world of design, the distinctive floral patterns of British manufacturer Morris & Co were transposed from textiles and wallpapers onto the kits of east London football club Walthamstow FC.

The revamped kits were created in collaboration with the Walthamstow-based William Morris Gallery and local art collective Wood Street Walls.

Our AItopia series continued with a roundup of 10 artificial intelligence apps that architects and designers need to know, including a floorplan generator and an “AI interior designer”.

At the same time, YuJune Park and Caspar Lam of digital design consultancy Synoptic Office argued in an opinion piece that any AI design will always require a human touch if it hopes to appeal to humans and all their senses.

Popular projects this week included a home in Taiwan that is hidden behind a perforated “brick veil”, an Ontario hotel that was rescued from ruin and a glasshouse-informed steel pavilion on the Isle of Wight.

Our latest lookbooks featured clever wine storage, bedrooms with space-efficient desks and interiors that draw on the principles of wabi-sabi.

This week on Dezeen

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Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a low-cost energy storage system that could be integrated into roads and building foundations to facilitate the renewable energy transition.

The research team has created a supercapacitor – a device that works like a rechargeable battery – using cement, water and carbon black, a fine black powder primarily formed of pure carbon.

The breakthrough could pave the way for energy storage to be embedded into concrete, creating the potential for roads and buildings that charge electric devices.

Unlike batteries, which rely on materials in limited supply such as lithium, the technology could be produced cheaply using materials that are readily available, according to the researchers.

They describe cement and carbon black as “two of humanity’s most ubiquitous materials”.

“You have the most-used manmade material in the world, cement, combined with carbon black, which is a well-known historical material – the Dead Sea Scrolls were written with it,” said MIT professor Admir Masic.

The research team included Masic and fellow MIT professors Franz-Josef Ulm and Yang-Shao Horn, with postdoctoral researchers Nicolas Chanut, Damian Stefaniuk and Yunguang Zhu at MIT and James Weaver at Harvard’s Wyss Institute.

“Huge need for big energy storage”

They believe the technology could accelerate a global shift to renewable energy.

Solar, wind and tidal power are all produced at variable times, which often don’t correspond with peak electricity demand.  Large-scale energy storage is necessary to take advantage of these sources but is too expensive to realise using traditional batteries.

“There is a huge need for big energy storage,” said Ulm. “That’s where our technology is extremely promising because cement is ubiquitous.”

The team proved the concept works by creating a set of button-sized supercapacitors, equivalent to one-volt batteries, which were used to power an LED light.

They are now developing a 45-cubic-metre version to show the technology can be scaled up.

Calculations suggest a supercapacitor of this size could store around 10 kilowatt-hours of energy, which would be enough to meet the daily electricity usage of a typical household.

This means that a supercapacitor could potentially be incorporated into the concrete foundation of a house for little to no additional cost.

“You can go from one-millimetre-thick electrodes to one-metre-thick electrodes, and by doing so basically you can scale the energy storage capacity from lighting an LED for a few seconds to powering a whole house,” Ulm said.

The researchers suggest that embedding the technology into a concrete road could make it possible to charge electric cars while they are travelling across it, using similar technology to that used in wireless phone chargers.

Battery-powered versions of this system are already being trialled across Europe.

Carbon black key to “fascinating” composite

Supercapacitors work by storing electrical energy between two electrically conductive plates. They are able to deliver charge much more rapidly than batteries but most do not offer as much energy storage.

The amount of energy they are able to store depends on the total surface area of the two plates, which are separated by a thin insulation layer.

The version developed here has an extremely high internal surface area, which greatly improves its effectiveness. This is due to the chemical makeup of the material formed when carbon black is introduced to a concrete mixture and left to cure.

“The material is fascinating,” said Masic. “The carbon black is self-assembling into a connected conductive wire.”

According to Masic, the amount of carbon black needed is very small – as little as three per cent.

The more is added, the greater the storage capacity of the supercapacitor. But this also reduces the structural strength of the concrete, which could be a problem in load-bearing applications.

The “sweet spot” is believed to be around 10 per cent.

The composite material could also be utilised within a heating system, the team suggested. Full details of their findings are due to be published in an upcoming edition of science journal PNAS.

Other attempts at creating large-scale, low-cost energy storage systems include Polar Night Energy’s “sand battery”, which is already servicing around 10,000 people in the Finnish town of Kankaanpää.

The top image is courtesy of Shutterstock.

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Human rights organisation Equidem has alleged that female workers producing official merchandise for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup are being exploited.

According to a report published by global human and labour rights group Equidem, women who work in the factories in Bangladesh that create official apparel for FIFA tournaments are being overworked and underpaid.

While the FIFA garments include official merchandise that is available for fans to buy, they does not include the football kits worn by players themselves, which are not manufactured by FIFA.

Supervisors alleged to “verbally abuse” workers

In a blog post explaining its findings, the organisation said that a range of one-on-one interviews were conducted with garment workers who reportedly told Equidem they are suffering what the organisation characterises as “rampant exploitation” at the hands of their employers.

Equidem has alleged that the women labourers earn 12 per cent of the national living wage, are forced into working significant overtime and are frequently verbally abused.

“We have a daily target to reach,” read one of a number of anonymous testimonies from factory workers published by the human rights organisation.

“The supervisor fixes our daily target. I make 60-80 pieces per hour. I can only go to the restroom after finishing my hourly target. When a lot of work piles up, they don’t let us go anywhere. They verbally abuse us. I work for 10-12 hours a day at my sewing machine.”

“Today, my supervisor told me to give 80 pieces per hour, but it was quite difficult to make 80 pieces. I made 60 pieces per hour. He shouted at me several times.”

Women denied paid maternity leave

Equidem also alleges that these women workers are illegally denied paid maternity leave and worksite childcare. In Bangladesh, working mothers are entitled to four months of paid maternity leave by law.

Various women also reported being told that they would lose their jobs if they became pregnant within the first two years of employment, according to the human rights organisation.

Workers are also being threatened with pay cuts and often work overtime, the report states.

“Our research found that workers’ shifts last for a minimum of nine hours a day, six days a week, but they often work overtime, with threats of their pay being cut if targets were not met,” said Equidem.

“FIFA has already failed workers in spaces predominantly taken up by men, and women are, as ever, left even further behind,” added the organisation.

FIFA has the “resource to address this at the systemic level”

The allegations come after FIFA pledged to found a human rights subcommittee following last year’s men’s World Cup.

“After the Men’s World Cup this past year in Qatar, FIFA pledged to set up a human rights subcommittee that would assess the legacy of the 2022 tournament, although there has been no further update as to the status of that assessment, nor its learnings,” Equidem CEO Mustafa Qadri said.

“Equidem urges FIFA to extend its expressed commitment to improving working conditions to women workers in their apparel supply chains,” Qadri continued.

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 brings with it many positive improvements for its players, and it is crucial that FIFA extends that progress to addressing the harms its women workers experience. FIFA has the power, money, and resource to address this at the systemic level, and we will keep monitoring their global supply chains until it does.”

Equidem said it will continue to speak to staff to monitor the Women’s World Cup.

“These findings have been shared with FIFA, and while a comment has been requested from FIFA and companies in its garment supply chain, Equidem continues to monitor the Women’s World Cup by liaising with staff on the ground,” the organisation said.

Dezeen has contacted FIFA for comment but did not receive a response before publishing.

The allegations follow the controversies surrounding last year’s men’s World Cup tournament, which was held in Qatar.

Human rights group Amnesty International accused Qatar of exploitative labour conditions for migrant workers who built the tournament’s stadiums, while sports brand Hummel designed a football kit for Denmark’s men’s team as a “protest against Qatar and its human rights record”.

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