Notes to editors

1. For images and further information please contact Mina Vadon in the RIBA Press Office on 07805 173681, 020 7307 3761 or mina.vadon@inst.riba.org
2. Full citation follows:
   El Ray, Dungeness, Kent

Architect:                                   Simon Conder Associates/Simon Conder + Pippa Smith

Client:                                       Private

Contractor:                                Ecolibrium Solutions

Structural Engineer:                    Fluid Structures

Environmental Engineer:            ZEF (UK)

Contract Value:                          £215,000

Date of completion:                   July 08

Gross internal area:                     105 sq m

 

It is hard to believe that the white cliffs of Dover are only a few miles away from the big sky flatlands of Dungeness. More American Prairie than Garden of England. The looming presence of Dungeness power station and its 33,000 volt tendrils spreading in all directions dominates the surreal landscape. In this windswept setting this small holiday timber house sits lightly on the shingle, with no foundations other than a raft. Insulated with 400mm walls and roof, it is shaped to catch the sea breeze when balmy and triple glazed to deflect it when hostile. Needing no energy from the nuclear monolith next door it mimics the self-sufficiency of a hermit crab. The original 1870’s timber railway carriage at its heart, unmoved since it was first placed there in the 1930’s, evokes both the history of the ad-hoc settlement of Dungeness in the last Great Depression and the owners’ personal memories of it as the core of their family home. Leaving it in place, complete with scabrous peeling century-old paint, is a stroke of sensitive and humorous genius. It is both mad and perfect (and makes a very good galley kitchen too). It is something no amount of flashy kitchen fittings and plasma screen wallpaper can buy. The house also has two bedrooms, a bathroom and a large living, dining/kitchen area that looks on to the sea. The room is elevated in section towards the window wall which brings a private framed beach landscape into the house.  Each bedroom has its own private courtyard; a windbreak and place of shelter.  The building sits perfectly in, and is another eccentric addition to, a landscape of reused and bespoke construction. The external timber (cedar) which is weathering naturally and internal plywood both fit beautifully with the beach landscape and colours. The house is both comfortable and comforting, the timber on all five elevations already settling into the landscape like driftwood. When it floats out to sea after the great floods of 2090 distant marine archaeologists will puzzle over its origins and the hidden symbolic meaning of its wine-glass shaped plan.

3. The RIBA Stirling Prize is a ‘built or designed in Britain’ prize, for which only buildings in the UK by RIBA chartered members and International Fellows, or buildings in the rest of the EU by practices whose principal office is in the UK, are eligible. The £20,000 RIBA Stirling Prize is fully funded by the Marco Goldschmied Foundation.

 

 

4. The RIBA Trust manages the cultural assets of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), including the internationally recognised collections of the British Architectural Library. It is the UK’s national architecture centre, delivering the RIBA Awards and RIBA Stirling Prize (broadcast on Channel 4); the Royal Gold Medal; International and Honorary Fellowships; RIBA partnership in architecture festivals; a full programme of lectures, exhibitions, tours and other events; and an education programme.

 

5. 2009 marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of the RIBA. To celebrate this milestone the Institute is holding a programme of special events throughout the year that aim to show the breadth of our activities throughout the world of architecture, and engage an even wider public and celebrate the benefits to society of good design. For further information visit www.architecture.com