Davidson Rafailidis’ house in Buffalo, New York State, US has been announced as the winner of the AR House awards 2020, alongside two Highly Commended and three Commended house projects
Davidson Rafailidis transformed a 1920s garage into a small house in Buffalo, NY. The house, named Big Space, Little Space, reinterprets the pre-existing living spaces to create an adaptable space that changes with the seasons and the needs of the users. The ‘Little Space’ consists of an enclosed, insulated area within the garage, containing a kitchen and bathroom as well as a sleeping and living space. The room overlaps with the ‘Big Spaces’: the workshop that inhabits the larger portion of the building, and in summer months expanding into the garden and the roof deck.
The winning house design was chosen by a judging panel including three previous AR House finalists: co-founder of Collectif Encore Anna Chavepayre, British architect Lisa Shell, and Dutch architect Ard de Vries. Entries were received from around the globe and considered by the judges, who were looking for ingenious and pioneering houses that seek to push the type forward.
AR House 2020 Winner –Big Space, Little Space in Buffalo, USA by Davidson Rafailidis
Credit: Florian Holzherr
AR House 2020 results
Winner: Big Space, Little Space in the US by Davidson Rafailidis
Highly Commended: Couldrey House in Australia by Peter Besley and HNNA
Highly Commended: Casa Avándaro in Mexico by Manuel Cervantes Estudio
Commended: White Hut in Japan, by ADO
Commended: House TP in Belgium by dmvA
Commended: Four Leaves in Japan by Kentaro Ishida Architects Studio
Lisa Shell said of the winning project that it ‘achieves a level of delightful intricacy without wilfulness. The project is built from a clear narrative of opposites - a play between the intense and laconic, which is rigorous from idea through to detail.’
Ard de Vries described the project as ‘simple, elegant and flexible.’
Anna Chavepayre also commented: ‘It’s capacity to adapt to the seasons, the changing light and the flexible devises makes it to a very big small house.’
Highly Commended – Couldrey House by Peter Besley and HNNA
Credit: Rory Gardiner
The winner is joined by two Highly Commended projects; Couldrey House in Brisbane, Australia by Peter Besley and HNNA – a monolithic brick house which rises from the subterranean rock with a heavy thermal mass. Lisa Shell: ‘The luscious oozing mortar of the masonry facades is delightful, as is the simple interior palette of concrete, “white” and timber.’ Anna Chavepayre: ‘The house is perfectly adapted to “the ancient and enigmatic landscape” heavy from the outside and surprisingly light when you enter the living room situated in the canopy of the trees.’
Also Highly Commended is Casa Avándaro in Mexico by Manuel Cervantes Estudio – a long timber house that unfurls living spaces across the landscape, branching from a simple colonnaded spine. Anna Chavepayre: ‘You feel the house can be silent and calm and filed with life.’ Ard de Vries: ‘It is a modest design in which light and air determine the quality of the interior and the exterior through the rhythm of the wooden construction.’
Highly Commended – Casa Avándaro by Manuel Cervantes Estudio
Credit: Rafael Gamo
Three additional projects were also commended by the jury, including White Hut in Japan by ADO – a polyhedric suburban house that opens a generous hand to the street while preserving the privacy of its inhabitants. Ard de Vries: ‘In a complex urban context the geometry formulated the quality of the interior space.’
Commended – White Hut by ADO
Credit: Hiroyuki Hirai
Also Commended is House TP in Belgium by dmvA – a floating greenhouse captures light on top of a house as it attempts to integrate urban farming with domesticity. Lisa Shell: ‘House TP is curious and complex despite being a tiny low budget conversion and renovation project.’
Commended – House TP by dmvA
Credit: Bart Gosselin
The third project Commended in the AR House awards 2020 is Four Leaves in Japan by Kentaro Ishida Architects Studio – an organic roof shape integrates this rural house with its natural surroundings and creates a dynamic living space below. Lisa Shell: ‘The complex play of the four roofplanes transforms an otherwise unexceptional house into something very special, both internally and externally.’
Commended – Four Leaves by Kentaro Ishida Architects
Credit: Norihito Yamauchi
